e second of two methods used for viewing Scribd documents, this involves using Mozilla Firefox to

view the page’s source code to gain access to the page’s info. As mentioned above, we’ve experienced
some hit or miss results with this method, but since it only takes a couple minutes of your time to try,
it’s worth trying anyway. You’ll know this method has failed if you receive a message that announces
an invalid key error. Otherwise, let’s get going with your Scribd document. This was originally our top-
recommended way to download Scribd documents without paying for a membership, but we’ve heard
from enough users having difficulty with this process to demote it to a backup method.

Start by navigating Firefox (we can’t suggest using Chrome, as Chrome generates a .swf file that never
manages to download) to the Scribd document you’re looking to save to your computer. Though Scribd
also carries full-length novels and other works of fiction, we recommend only using this for nonfiction
documents and other sources for your projects, papers, and research. Inside your document’s preview,
right-click the document and select “View Page Source” from the menu. This will open a new tab in
your browser, displaying the source information for your Scribd target.
In this new page, hit Ctrl+F to open the Find in Page UI in Firefox. In this field, enter the phrase
“access_key,” and upon finding the result in the Scribd source code, highlight and copy the code to
your computer. It should be an alphanumerical code, and appear as ‘key-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.” Now
head back to the original document page in your browser and look at the URL in the top of the browser.
This time, we’re looking for the document ID number in the URL of your specific page. Unlike the
access key, the document ID is listed in the URL, and consists of several numbers. The URL should
appear as “‘https://www.scribd.com/read/NUMBER/DOCUMENT TITLE.” We’ll be using the number
portion of that link in a moment.

Now, open up a new tab in Firefox. We’re going to create a new URL using the information provided
us by both the access key, the document ID number, and the following partial URL:
“http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=NUMBER&access_key=key-
ACCESS_KEY”. When you’ve pasted this URL into your new tab, replace the number section with the
document ID and the access key area with the access key you grabbed earlier. Following this, you’ll
have to wait a few minutes for the page to load as your documents begins to download from the Scribd
servers. Once your document has finished loading, use the print option to print to PDF, and your
document will be saved to your computer.
If this method doesn’t work for you, and you receive some form of error message from Scribd, retry
using the first method listed above. Users have reported to us that their preferred method uses the
document upload method listed above.

Method Three: GreaseMonkey Scripts

For this next step, you’ll need to use one of multiple different Greasemonkey scripts to download your
document, in addition to using Firefox. This has been hit or miss with us as well, especially as
extensions and plugins age and Scribd continues to update their site. Still, it’s worth mentioning if only
for the sake of completion. The first thing you’ll need to make sure you have is Firefox. Greasemonkey
is a Firefox-only extension, and though Tampermonkey exists for Chrome, we’re going to need to use
Firefox for this one. Install Greasemonkey from the Firefox plugin store, and head over to this site to
install the Scribd Greasemonkey extension. There are actually several of these that exist online, and
each may be worth trying until you find the correct one for you.

With your Greasemonkey script installed, you should be able to download Scribd documents within
your browser using the download key that appears on the top of the page. That said, because Scribd is
constantly changing their site, we can’t always guarantee that you’ll be able to find a script that works.
In our tests, we found success using the script here, along with some of the scripts on GreasyFork,
which also include options to de-blur documents on Scribd.

***
Unfortunately, the nature of Scribd means that these methods are far from perfect. Scribd doesn’t want
users to access their document collection for free, and therefore, these methods are always up in the air
for whether or not they’ll work. Typically, trying to force Scribds hand will get you somewhere, from a
full-blown document downloaded from their servers to a saved and converted HTML document that
can be used for PDF files. As always, we update this article once every couple months with the newest
information we can, and our comment section is a great way to see who else is having success
downloading from Scribd. None of the methods performed here are by any means perfect, but with
enough time, energy, and effort, making progress within Scribd to gain access to documents for your
homework or studying isn’t too far away.

30 thoughts on “How To Download Scribd Documents For Free”

Gordon Ramsay
October 29, 2019 at 12:39 pm
Method 1 has been patched
Reply

Favour
October 9, 2019 at 4:09 pm
Hi there…
Method 1 worked for me. I am using Microsoft’s edge browser (if you find that relevant).
Reply

Rhea
October 2, 2019 at 8:31 pm
Method 1 no longer works