Question: I have an ajax call that successfully calls a page that by itself works fine. You click the button, and a PDF downloads. However, when I make an AJAX call using the same request type and url, the `data` is returned, but does not prompt a download.

My call :

```
    $("#download-pdf").live('click', function(){
      $.ajax({
        url: $(this).parents('form').attr('action'),
        type: 'POST',
        success: function(data){
          console.log(data);
        }
      });
      return false;
    });

```

Data is returned as what would be an unparsed PDF. So I know the information is there. It just doesn't cause a download. Any tricks?

Answer: 
The only way to force a download is to refresh the page using the "standard" form submission method. With Ajax you'll receive the raw output data (PDF) and no save dialog will ever pop up
It's not possible to force downloading when using AJAX.

Please read this: [Force download a pdf link using javascript/ajax/jquery](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3077242/force-download-a-pdf-link-using-javascript-ajax-jquery)

If you would just submit the form then you can tell the browser to download the file by sending the appropriate headers:

```
Response.Clear();
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=file.pdf");

Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
Response.WriteFile(Server.MapPath(@"~/file.pdf"));

Response.End();

```