Hi Aylwin,
I don't remember a force download option for the URL resource, though the file resource has it (the same in 2.4 as previously).
Hi Helen,
Thanks for the reply. I'm fairly sure that force download was available but not 100% so. I think the problem I'm facing now is more of a site-wide issue related to 2.4 with Firefox and Chrome. The site seems to work just fine with Internet Explorer.
Anyway, one problem is that with Firefox and Chrome, URL resources open up another Moodle page where you need to click on the link to an external URL. However, with Internet Explorer the URL resources open the external pages immediately.
I haven't seen anyone else complain about 2.4 not working properly with Firefox and Chrome so I don't know what it is.
Hi Aylwyn,
Not to complain, but yes, I do have the same problem since upgrading to 2.4:
when specifiying a URL- resource with popup:
In Firefox I get a popup with a Moodle page in it where I need to click the link.
I definitely need a fix for this!
In reply to mart van der niet
Re: Force download for URL resource in version 2.4
by Nicolas Connault -
Until this gets fixed, one possible workaround is to put your file in a hidden section, give students a special role to view this section's files, and create a label with a link to the file (e.g. player.html) in place of the original file.
I hope that makes sense 
I think this is possibly this bug here MDL-37015 which should be integrated on 4th January if you can update then.
Hi Mary,
Thanks for the heads up. I believe that is indeed the bug. It's good to know that it's getting fixed.
Unfortunately, I wasn't aware of this existing issue and had also opened a ticket of my own: MDL-37129
Hi Aylwin - no worries - I have marked yours as duplicate and linked to the first issue reporting it. It's been noticed quite a few times recently so it deserves a quick fix
Hi Nicolas,
Yes, replacing URL resources with labels is the workaround I have done. It actually works out better because with URL resources, the icon is always the same. With labels, I can manually add the appropriate icon (Word, Excel, PPT, PDF, etc.) found under the pix folder together with the text label and then create the whole thing as a popup link.
For our purposes, this is much better than how the URL resource works. So I think we will have little use for the URL resource from now on.
In reply to mart van der niet
Re: Force download for URL resource in version 2.4
by Nicolas Connault -
Until this gets fixed, one possible workaround is to put your file in a hidden section, give students a special role to view this section's files, and create a label with a link to the file (e.g. player.html) in place of the original file.
I hope that makes sense