sharepoint vti history links download or break with ?web=1, how can I force view in browser?

Question

I want to access the most recent major version of a document dynamically
I only want to view it in the browser rather than allow copies
I discovered vti history followed by the version * 512 allows me to access the version

however, when I enter this in the browser, even with web=1 it still downloads the doc

https://myserver.sharepoint.com/_vti_history/1536/DocLibrary/myFile.docx?web=1
also
https://myserver.sharepoint.com/DocLibrary/myFile.docx?v=1.0&web=1

works for half a second and then redirects to the current version...

On a bigger note, I'd really like to prevent copy & download for everyone,
yet still allow doc libraries to sync in file explorer and allow those with edit access to do so in the desktop app.

How might I achieve this?

Answer 1

Per my research, by default, SharePoint allow users to download previous versions through link formatting "https://<SiteURL>/_vti_history/[MajorVersion*512+MinorVersion]/<Library>/Document.docx", users only can open the latest version of file in the browser.

For prevent users download files, you could use conditional access policy to block download.

Reference:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1274429/how-to-enable-block-download-policy-in-office-365

For prevent users copying files, go to Library settings -> Information Rights Management.

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Answer 2

My understanding is that if I change the download setting either through the Offline Client Availability option in the library settings or by the method you shared, SharePoint file explore sync and co-authoring in the desktop app will be disabled. Is that true?