Accessing British Standards Online


British Standards Online offers access to the full-text of around 38,500 standards, including European and International standards. University of Strathclyde users should access British Standards Online via the records for this resource in SUPrimo, the Library A-Z database list, or LibGuides, and sign in using DS login credentials when prompted.



Security features and viewing standards


British Standards Online (BSOL) are introducing some new security features. These will change how you view and open files on their website. If you have difficulties in viewing British Standards you may need to install and use the FileOpen plugin on your device. The use of the plugin will become mandatory during 2021.


FileOpen is designed to protect BSOL’s digital assets from copying, piracy, and unauthorized sharing. You will need an internet connection to open the documents for the first time. Once your documents have been authenticated, you will be able to access the documents offline.


Users should also be aware that content on BSOL is subject to copyright.  More information about copyright limits can be found in the BSOL Terms and Conditions (Section 8. Proprietary Rights) and users who require any further information should submit a Library Enquiry via our Support Portal https://helpdesk.strath.ac.uk/support/home .



What do I need to do?


You will need to download the plugin to access files and you will also need Adobe Acrobat or Reader installed on your device to read the document. Most devices will already have Adobe Reader installed.

Download FileOpen.

Download Adobe Acrobat Reader


If you have a University managed device then FileOpen can be installed from the Software Center or by your departmental IT support.


Using Google Chrome


BSOL have also advised us of a specific problem opening documents using Google Chrome. If you experience a problem, please follow these steps:

  1. Go into settings and scroll down to the privacy and security section.
  2. Click on ‘Site settings’
  3. Scroll down and click on ‘PDF settings’
  4. Ensure ‘Download PDF file instead of automatically opening them in Chrome’ is switched on


Operating system requirements

  • Windows 7 or later with Adobe Reader/Adobe Acrobat 9.0 or later
  • Mac OS X 10.9 or above with Adobe Reader/Adobe Acrobat 9.0 or later
  • Linux Kernel 1.4 or later with Adobe Reader/Adobe Acrobat 7.0 or 8.0 only
  • iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, iOS 4.0 or later
  • Android 2.2 +


Further information is available at: https://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/topics/supporting-our-clients-and-content-partners/



 

PDFs will not open in browser ('Failed to load PDF' error)


In addition to having FileOpen installed on your device; please be aware that BSOL PDFs will not open-in browser.  This is stated on BSOL's webpage https://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/topics/supporting-our-clients-and-content-partners/


Please note: PDFs will not open in-browser. Some browsers will open PDFs in-browser as default behaviour. This will cause an error, as the document is not being opened in Adobe. To avoid this error, please save the document on your device first and then open it.


If you have FileOpen installed on your device but when attempting to download documents from BSOL you are experiencing an error message such as 'Failed to load PDF document', please check your browser settings to ensure that PDFs are set to download rather than open automatically in the browser:


  • in Chrome: go to 3 dots menu > Settings > Privacy and Security > Site Settings > scroll down to bottom and expand 'Additional content settings' > PDF documents >  make sure that Default behavior is set to 'Download PDFs' rather than Open PDFs in Chrome ). 
  • in Edge: go to 3 dots menu > Settings cog > Cookies and site permissions > PDF documents > make sure 'Always download PDF files' is selected.
  • in Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/change-firefox-behavior-when-open-file


You may prefer not to alter your browser settings in this way - you may prefer the behaviour of downloads opening directly in the browser when using other sites.  As an alternative to open BSOL documents, you can navigate to the folder containing your file - probably your Downloads folder; or another location if you have saved the file elsewhere - and open the document directly from there. (In this case would need to open downloaded BSOL documents in this way every time, as you will continue to get the error every time you attempt to open a PDF in your browser.)  If attempting to open the document directly from the file on your computer is not working, please also check that your computer is attempting to open the document with Adobe Acrobat Reader and not some other piece of software. 


Please note that this information relates to downloading only.  Users should be able to access full text content using the 'Quick View' option regardless of browser settings.


More information is available on the BSOL webpage at https://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/topics/supporting-our-clients-and-content-partners/




If you have any questions or require support using British Standards Online, please log a Library Enquiry via our Support Portal https://helpdesk.strath.ac.uk/support/tickets/new#libraryenquiry .