I have started putting a footer with this field in documents that are printed by several users (saved as pdfs) so we can all find the original file if it needs editing (and we don’t end up with multiple edited versions in different folders etc)
Problem I have is that they have huge path names (so big that they take up almost a page width even in size 6 font) and we don’t have enough room to put anything else (eg updated & date) on the same line in the footer and if I do a 2 line footer it takes up page space that for some things we could use.
They are all in cloud storage (dropbox) and all in one main folder in there (which contains multiple sub folders, which contain subfolders) -the only part of the pathname we need is the bit from the main folder onwards.
To make it clearer it currently appears as ‘home/computer name/dropbox/main folder name/sub folder a/subfolderb/subfolder c/subfolder d/filename’
I would like it to be just ‘subfolder a/subfolderb/subfolder c/subfolder d/filename’
Is it possible to do that?
How would I go about doing it?
To add complication most of the other users aren’t particularly computer literate, they need to be saved as .docx files (and I have suggested I could just put the filename on and they could search for that …but that apparently that is too difficult…)
Thanks in advance
If you save .docx, most suggestions won’t survive session. So, either save native .odt or try something with M$ Word.
My solution would be based on a template file with custom File>Properties but I don’t think it’ll forward to .docx.
Apparently one of the mac users can’t see .odt files - they can only see .docx files.
(although I think this was actually something to do with differences in acceptable characters in file names in Windows vs Macs) and everyone else uses MS word …so it is the path of least resistance…
Would it be possible to use some sort of URL shorting service?
Such as: https://bitly.com or https://tinyurl.com › app
Or
Implement your own that lookup up from a shorter url that could be created from a hash or something. Perhpas looked up from a simple database such or some other kind index.
Or
Is is possible to create hyperlinks to the long links with shorter names?
Thanks
That has given me an idea …need to think about it a bit more.
Part of me is glad there isn’t some really easy/obvious way that I have missed! At least I don’t feel too stupid…
At worse I can put the filenames on so at least I can do a search and find things and I guess check for duplicates every so often.
If you are OK with such a small font, you could put the file path into a frame in the footer so it can wrap into a second line without affecting the height of the footer. It should work OK saved as .docx, although saving as .docx might cause issues elsewhere.
TextFilePath.odt (29.8 KB)
Thanks - I will look at doing that -try it as a docx. etc. Small font isn’t an issue as we look at the ‘soft’ copies so can increase the magnification so we can read it.
Formatting wise so far not had any major issues (they are pretty simple things like daily check lists, sign in sheets) - And as I said we have them saved as pdfs for printing (all in a folder together) but they relate to other things (eg policies) and so we can’t keep the editable versions in one place.
Most of the changes we make are minor so doesn’t alter the formatting. I just find if I need to make a change I have to carefully check the whole thing to know which is the current ‘in use’ version - a PIA (especially as people tend to save them in weird places and with obscure file names -I guess it is just people’s brains work in different ways - a too many cooks situation).
Thanks again