This PHP function will initiate a direct download of a file (pdf, etc.). MIME type on line 5 will also need to be changed if not PDF (eg "application/xml"). Now just create a hyperlink directly to this php script.

direct-download.php

<?php
    $actual_file_name = "path/to/foo.pdf";
    $saved_file_name = "foo-bar.pdf"

    header("Content-Type: application/pdf");
    header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=$saved_file_name");
    header("Content-Length: " . filesize($actual_file_name));

    readfile($actual_file_name);
    exit;
?>