The download did not start

Help · Files and downloads · Updated October 16, 2026

Applies to
Short answer: Check your browser’s list of downloads first. Inside apps such as Instagram or Facebook, open the page in Chrome or Safari instead — their built-in browsers often cannot save files.

How a download works here

When a tool finishes, the result is built in your browser and handed to you as a file — nothing is fetched from a server, so a download here is never slow. It does depend on the page staying open: the finished file lives only in that page, and reloading or closing it throws the result away. Save it before you leave.

What to do

  1. Look in your downloads first. The file may already be there. On a computer, open the browser’s list of downloads; on Android, check the Downloads folder; on an iPhone, look in Files, under Downloads.
  2. Press the download button again. If your browser asks whether to allow the download, or whether this site may download several files, choose Allow.
  3. Leave the app’s built-in browser. If you opened the page from Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn or an email app, you are probably in that app’s own browser, and many of them cannot save files at all. Use the app’s menu to open the page in Chrome or Safari, run the tool again there and download.
  4. On an iPhone, confirm the prompt. Safari asks “Do you want to download…?” before saving. The file then goes to Downloads in the Files app.
  5. Check the space on your device. A full phone refuses downloads, sometimes without saying why.

Tools that give you a print dialog instead

A few PDF tools do not download a file at all: they open your browser’s print dialog, and the PDF is made when you choose Save as PDF there. If the tool says your browser blocked the print window, allow pop-ups for this site. See Saving a PDF from the print dialog.

If the result is gone

Run the tool again. Your settings may need entering again, but nothing was lost on our side — nothing was ever stored there.

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