Create external image link in Writer in MacOS

[mcinnisp]

Continuing the discussion from External link to display image in writer?:

I’m trying to create an external link to an image in Writer by using a URL, as described in the above post from @Regina. However, I see no way to add the URL. I choose the menu items Insert>Image, click the Options button and check the Link option. However, I’m only able to select a file in this dialog, there is no place to enter a URL.

I’m using MacOS (10.13.6) and LibreOffice 7.3.2.2. If someone here has a way to add a URL as a link to an image (i.e. meaning the image referenced will appear in the document) using LibreOffice and MacOS, please let me know how you do this. Thank you!

[Hrbrgr]

Try Insert>Hyperlink ( Ctrl+K ).

[mcinnisp]

Thanks, but that only inserts the URL as a text URL, it doesn’t show the image the URL refers to within Writer.

[ajlittoz]

This may depend on OS and desktop manager.

When you Insert>Image, a file dialog pops up. Usually, you use it to navigate in your file system to select a file. But on *NIX OSes (MacsOS is based on BSD), you can prefix a URI with a protocol to tell the kernel which IO module to use to retrieve the resource.

Here, you don’t navigate to a file. You manually type in the File: entry box http://example.com/pat/to/image.png or similar. You tell Writer this is not an ordinary filename by ticking the box Insert as Link.

[mcinnisp]

Yes @ajlittoz, but as mentioned in my first post, there is no place to enter the URL.

[EarnestAl]

You might be able to use the LibreOffice dialogue box by clicking in LibreOffice > Preferences > LibreOffice > General and tick the box Use LibreOffice dialogue boxes

Or you could use the alternative method Regina mentioned.

1. Insert any image. Right-click it and select Properties.
2. In the dialogue box that opens select the Image tab and under the heading Link enter the URL for your image, in this example a Public Domain image, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Inside_QuartzCrystal-Tuningfork.jpg
   
   
3. Select the Crop tab and either press the Original Size button or enter the same percentage, e.g. 50%, for Width and Height under Scale and click OK
   
   

As you can see in the image above, the original image has been replaced by the URL linked image

[Hrbrgr]

In addition to @ajlittoz :

With me:
Windows 11, LO 7.3.1.3 (x64)

[mcinnisp]

Thank you @EarnestAl - this is the solution I was looking for. Both of your suggestions work, but the first of them (changing the preferences to use the LibreOffice Open/Save dialogs) is the simplest and most straightforward. The second suggestion, inserting a different image then changing its properties to include the link, works but it’s somewhat cumbersome compared to changing the Open/Save preference, especially when performing this for many images.

Many thanks again for the solution!

[mcinnisp]

Thanks @Hrbrgr, but this does not work using the native MacOS dialog since there is no place to enter the link, as I mentioned and showed in my earlier screenshot. The key to this, as @EarnestAl suggested, is to change the LibreOffice preferences to use the LibreOffice Open/Save dialog rather than the native MacOS dialog.