The access link generated by Google Drive when making a file accessible to everyone with the link shows the file in the browser (depending on the file type), but does not necessarily directly download its content. However, the sharing link can easily be transformed into a direct download link:
- Share the file by right-clicking on it in Google Drive, choosing "Share", and changing the setting to "Everyone with the link".
- Copy the link generated by the sharing dialogue.
- The string following '/d/' in the sharing link is the file id. Use it to generate the direct download link of the form
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=<file_id>