Is there any way to get around this error message, “file:///H:/Documents/INTERNET/HOMEPAGE/CowetaLinks.htm” is not an absolute URL that can be passed to an external application to open it.
I would like to use hyperlinks like this to develop a freeform hyperlink local private database.
If you’re using Windows then you need to use a backslash not a forward slash
@EarnestAl is totally wrong. URL has uniform separators, irrespective on OS.
Using backslashes in URLs produces invalid URLs, which may be still processed (as a workaround, because so many people insist on producing those invalid URLs), but still that’s not a reason to use them.
You seem to have set option Tools -> Options -> Load/Save -> General -> [x] Save URLs relative to filesystem. Though the path in the error message looks like an absolute path, in fact it is a relative path translated to the location with respect of you current documents location. However: The path is relative and no external application would know how to deal with a relative path once you moved the file containing the link to some other location. Change the option, and check again.
I think you are on to something but I tried it with the option set both ways when I was working both with a docx file and html file and I still cannot avoid the error. When I generate a similar document with Microsoft Notepad and strict html rules, the link works.
Still having the problem - I can code an html file with Notepad and then edit it with Writer but I cannot develop and save an html file from scratch because of this error. Please help. When I code with notepad, I use the “file:///H:/Documents/INTERNET/HOMEPAGE…” format and it works.
Just enter file:///H:/Documents/INTERNET/HOMEPAGE/CowetaLinks.htm without the " " and press Space.
If there are spaces in the path or file name then select your link text and press Ctrl+K (Insert > Hyperlink), in the dialog choose document or Internet as appropriate, paste your path in but be sure to remove any " (quote marks) at the beginning and at the end of the path or it will create the hyperlink as ““file:///H:/Documents/INTERNET/HOMEPAGE/CowetaLinks.htm”” (double set of quotes) which will fail. If you do get a fail then right-click and select Edit link.
I don’t think you can create a hyperlink with spaces in the path without using Ctrl+K. The dialog is easier to read if you drag the edge out sideways to make the size it used to be. Cheers, Al