How to find the PDF version of a Read-the-docs project - read-the-docs

Question

What am I not seeing? The RTD features page says:
PDF Generation
When you build your project on RTD, we automatically build a PDF of
your project’s documentation. We also build them for every version
that you upload, so we can host the PDFs of your latest documentation,
as well as your latest stable releases as well.
But how do you find the PDF version? A websearch finds this 2012 blog post where the writer says:
Here, for example, is the url to Django-Tastypie’s PDF docs:
http://media.readthedocs.org/pdf/django-tastypie/latest/django-tastypie.pdf
You can replace django-tastypie with the slug for any Read the Docs
project.
However, RTD doesn't permit users to browse the website's directory tree via the URL: http://media.readthedocs.org/pdf/[project slug]/, get's me 403 FORBIDDEN! At least for project CookieCutter.

Answer 1

For security reasons, many websites do not allow you to browse directory listings on the web server; hence the 403.
Anyway, I guess you were looking for these:
https://media.readthedocs.org/pdf/cookiecutter/latest/cookiecutter.pdf
https://media.readthedocs.org/pdf/cookiecutter/stable/cookiecutter.pdf
Typically, it should not be necessary to construct this URL yourself. There is a link in the navigation bar of RtD. You just have to know where to find it.
Notice the 'Read the Docs' label at the bottom left of the page (together with the version indicator). Click it and a panel will open.
In the panel, you can select the desired version. The 'PDF' link navigates to the PDF file. The build system of RtD should automatically keep this file up to date with the documentation source.
Note:
for PDF and EPUB generation to be available, the RtD project:
must use Sphinx as its documentation generator; not MkDocs
must be configured to enable PDF and EPUB builds

Answer 2

I find the Read the Docs label that opens a panel with a pdf link preferable. However, if that isn't present, an alternative is doing a web search for it.
e.g., search for
readthedocs cookiecutter pdf
and the first result I see (as of 8 July 2020) is a link to the pdf: https://readthedocs.org/projects/cookiecutter/downloads/pdf/latest/
As of 8 Jul 2020, the cookiecutter readthedocs does indeed have expandable panel with the pdf link. However,
when I look at the readthedocs for pipenv, there is no ReadTheDocs clickable to open a panel. But if I search Google for
readthedocs pipenv pdf
the first result is a link to the pdf: https://media.readthedocs.org/pdf/pipenv/latest/pipenv.pdf