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To monitor a PDF link with URLwatch, create a job for the webpage that contains the link, filter the page to extract the relevant link destination, and schedule URLwatch to check it. URLwatch compares the filtered result with the previous run and reports changes through configured reporters. If instead you want to detect changes to the PDF’s text, make a separate job for the PDF itself and use the pdf2text filter.
Choose what you want to monitor
“Monitor a PDF link” can mean two different things. URLwatch can track the destination listed on a webpage, or it can track text extracted from the PDF document. These require different jobs and filters.
| Goal | What URLwatch checks | Job URL |
|---|---|---|
| Find out if a link is added, removed, or points somewhere else | The extracted link or href value |
The webpage containing the link |
| Find out if the PDF’s text changes | Text extracted from the PDF | The PDF URL |
The first approach monitors the link, not the contents of the document. The second compares extracted text; it does not establish that every visual or layout change in the PDF will be detected. See the URLwatch Introduction and filter documentation.
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- Install URLwatch using its official installation instructions, then run it once.
- Open the job list with
urlwatch --edit. This editsurls.yaml. - Add a job for the page that contains the PDF link. The example below looks for links whose
hrefcontains “.pdf” and extracts their destinations. - Save the job, then preview what the filter selects with
urlwatch --test-filter. Confirm the output is the intended destination before relying on notifications.
name: "PDF link on example page"
url: "https://example.org/documents/"
filter:
- xpath: '//a[contains(@href, ".pdf")]/@href'
- sort:Replace the example URL with the real page. The XPath is illustrative: a site may use a different path, filename, or markup, so adjust the selector to that page’s HTML and verify it with the filter preview. URLwatch also documents CSS selection and chained filters; you can add conversions, grep, or other filters if the selected output needs further narrowing. The filter reference describes the available options.
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When the page needs JavaScript
A regular url job retrieves the web-server response. If the page creates or reveals its PDF link with JavaScript, use URLwatch’s navigate job, which uses a headless browser, rather than assuming the link will appear in the retrieved HTML. The exact configuration depends on the page and must still be checked with --test-filter. See the URLwatch Introduction.
Monitor changes to the PDF’s text instead
If the destination remains stable but you want to know when the document text changes, create a separate job whose URL is the PDF itself. Put pdf2text first in the filter chain because it consumes binary PDF data and produces text. You can follow it with strip to remove surrounding whitespace.
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name: "PDF document text"
url: "https://example.org/documents/report.pdf"
filter:
- pdf2text
- stripThis method requires pdftotext and its operating-system dependencies. Install those for your system before running the job, then preview its output. Because the comparison uses extracted text, do not treat it as a visual PDF comparison. Requirements and filter behavior are described in the URLwatch filter documentation.
Schedule checks and configure notifications
URLwatch checks only when it runs; the schedule determines how often it looks for changes. The official introduction recommends not running it more often than every 30 minutes. Its quick start suggests cron for scheduling and points Windows users to Windows Task Scheduler. Choose an interval appropriate to how quickly you need to learn of a change, while respecting that recommendation.
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- Set up a recurring task using cron, Windows Task Scheduler, or another scheduler available on your system.
- Run the same URLwatch command from that task that you use for a normal check.
- If you want alerts beyond the console, open configuration with
urlwatch --edit-configand configure a reporter. The documentation lists email and third-party messaging options, each of which requires its own configuration.
URLwatch retrieves each job’s output, applies its filters, compares the result with the previous run, and invokes enabled reporters when it detects a difference. A correct filter matters: if it selects unrelated changing page content, that content can trigger notifications even when the PDF destination has not changed. Details on jobs, scheduling, and reporters are in the Introduction.
Troubleshoot missing or noisy results
- The PDF link is not in the result: Check the page’s actual markup and adjust the XPath or CSS selector. If JavaScript creates or reveals the link, use a
navigatejob. - The filter returns too much: Make the selector more specific to the relevant link, or chain another filter to narrow the output. Use
urlwatch --test-filterto inspect the result. - The PDF text job fails: Confirm that
pdftotextand its operating-system dependencies are installed, and thatpdf2textis the first filter. - You receive no notification: Confirm that the scheduled command runs, that the filtered output actually changes, and that the intended reporter is enabled and configured.
- The job works now but later stops finding the link: The selector depends on the site’s markup, which can change. Recheck the filter preview when the page structure changes or the extracted result becomes unexpected.
A site can also block automated requests or serve content differently by environment. Filter testing confirms what the current job extracts; it cannot guarantee that a site’s future markup or access behavior will stay the same. The URLwatch documentation covers its job types and filters.
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Or skip the browser setup
If your goal is to capture the page containing the link rather than compare it with URLwatch, ScreenshotNeo provides a website screenshot API and MCP server. Its API can return a screenshot or PDF; it is not a replacement for URLwatch’s recurring change detection. A one-request screenshot looks like this:
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://example.org/documents/ -o shot.webpSee the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for setup and options. Before a capture, it can accept cookie or consent banners and remove more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets; each step can be turned off. Bot checks or CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits are not billed, and responses identify the page verdict and billing status in headers. Its MCP server offers take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf for Claude, Cursor, and other MCP clients.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does URLwatch monitor the PDF file when I monitor its link?
No. A page job that extracts the link destination tracks the address on the page. To monitor extracted document text, make a separate job for the PDF URL and use the pdf2text filter.
Will URLwatch detect a PDF’s layout or visual changes?
The documented pdf2text filter extracts text, so that comparison does not establish that visual or layout changes are detected.
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