PDF to QR Code (Free): Upload the File, Print the QR Code
Want a QR code for a PDF but the file has nowhere to live? Here's how to make one in Linkly with no website and no Drive link: drop the PDF in, Linkly hosts it, and the short link and QR code come back together. Print the QR code, and if the file changes later you swap it behind the same QR code instead of reprinting.
Transcript
The full spoken transcript, split by chapter.
- 0:00Host the PDF, get the QR code
- You've got a PDF and you need a QR code for it. The catch is the file has to live somewhere first, and that's the step most people get stuck on. Here's the version where you just drop it in. Pick PDF, then drop the file straight in. That's the whole hosting step. Linkly keeps the file and hands you back a short link, so there's no website to upload it to and no Drive link that asks people to sign in. Give the link a name you'll recognise in a month, and save.
- 0:26The QR code, and restyling it
- And there's the QR code, already drawn for you. That's the one that goes on the card. PNG for print, SVG if a designer asks. And if plain squares feel a bit 2010, you can restyle it. Someone scans the QR code, and the price list opens on their phone. No app, nothing to install, and nothing to sign into. Now the bonus, and it's the reason to
- 0:46The bonus: swap the file, keep the QR code
- use a link rather than a free generator. That card has the QR code on it. October happens, the prices move, and normally you print the card again. Not here. The QR code points at a short link, so you just swap the file. Edit the link, replace the file, and save. That's it. Same QR code on the counter, new file behind it, and nobody has to know the price list changed. Same scan, new prices.
- 1:11Same QR code, new prices
- I use this for anything that gets printed once and changes twice. It does have to be a PDF though. A Word file gets converted first. Every open gets counted, so you can tell if anyone's actually reading it. Mostly phones here, which figures for something sat on a counter. It's free to start, and everything you need is just below this video.
