/?tmstv= at end of url

Hi @seepops,

Thanks for reaching out to us!

‘tmstv=number_here’ added at the end of a download link – it’s a timestamp for caching systems so they won’t cache that link. The caching plugins won’t be able to store that link anymore and result in all kind of issues. That ‘tmstv’ has no value and its only function is not to have 2 identical download links. I hope this makes sense.

Warmly,

Beatrice.

Hi @beatrice12,

However, what is the way to have links without “?tmstv=*********” at the end?

• This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by odimitrov.

Hello @odimitrov ,

You can achieve this by overriding Download Monitor’s template ( doc here ) and changing how the link is made from:
href="<?php esc_url( $download->the_download_link() ); ?>"
to:
href="<?php echo esc_url( $download->get_the_download_link( false) ); ?>"

From version 4.7.74 of the plugin simply adding false to $download->the_download_link() should work ( so $download->the_download_link( false ) ).

Warmly,
Razvan

I’ve just had a problem where I removed the ?“?tmstv=*********” at the end and the download button wouldn’t download the file. Adding it back in solved the problem. I’m a bit worried that all my previous links without this suffix will stop working.

Hello @seepops ,

Could you please describe the scenario?

Warmly,
Razvan

I have a download link url on an <a> button. I’m not using a one of your shortcodes just the url inserted on a manual button link. It should open a new tab and redirect to download file. The url was without the the “?tmstv=*********” at the end. So just using the https://domain.com/download/1234/ link. It was not working on button click.

I then changed the link to include the new “?tmstv=*********” at the end and the link works.

So will my old links without the “?tmstv=*********” at the end all become disfunctional?

Is it possible to give us a link to a page ( a page where we can click the download link ) where the problem exists so we can have a look? Removing the “?tmstv=*********”?should not pose a problem.

Warmly,
Razvan

Hmm, I’m confused now because I’ve just removed the “?tmstv=*********” and the link still works. So it must be something else coincidental. I’ll keep monitoring it.

Please keep us posted on your findings. Also, if it happens again, please open the Browser Developer tools, head to the Console, take a screenshot ( blurry the parts you don’t want to be shown publicly ) and post it here so we can also have a look.

Warmly,
Razvan

Will do. Thanks

Please add a option to turn off the tmstv from the URL. We have thousands of old download links that are showing 404 errors. When we remove the tmstv the download works.

We didn’t ask for the tmstv and certainly don’t need it!

Hello @vitalized ,

As explained by my colleague @beatrice12 it does not have any value and should not interfere with the download.

But, that doesn’t mean that there is nothing wrong with the parameter, as there may be scenarios that we did not think of.

Could you please open another ticket and describe what you are experiencing and give us a link to a page where we can test this?

Warmly,
Razvan

I can’t give you access because the download links are within private courses. We are getting loads of students complaining that the download links have stopped working. When we delete the ?tmstv=* the download will work again, but there are too many to go through manually.

Please can you make the ?tmstv=* an option you turn on if you want it, off by default?

I understand. You can remove the tmstv parameter by adding the following snippet to your child theme’s functions.php file:

add_filter( 'dlm_timestamp_link', '__return_false' );

Please let me know if this worked for you.

Warmly,
Razvan