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Google Analytics tracking code is pasted into a pdf file

Is it possible that I can embed Google analytics tracking code in a PDF file? I want to know where users come from and how users behave in my PDF file.

Please help me if you know some kind of process or approach ...

I know that PDF accepts some javascript, but I don't know if it is capable of parsing Google.

Thanks!

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3 answers

You cannot, as far as I know, insert the actual snippet of Google Analytics JavaScript code into a PDF.

EDIT . My previous answer was wrong; I said you can insert __utm.gif , which launches GA in PDF, but @Mark correctly says that this is not possible.

The correct answer: it is impossible to embed an external resource into a PDF, at least not with modern PDF readers with basic security settings.

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It just won't work. The PDF object model is completely different from the HTML DOM. Scripts in one will not work in the other without using different null references:

 var foo = document.getElementByID("someID");

"Boom: document is undefined" , like the "window", and all other global object web pages are dependent on.

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Personally, I put the PDF inside the iframe, and then put GA and Piwik in the header of the html page containing the iframe. A little crooked, but does the job.

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