Possible workaround for broken LibreOffice hyperlinks after renaming or moving .odt files: using .lnk shortcuts?

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#1

I create a lot of .odt files with hyperlinks pointing to other .odt files. I avoid renaming or moving them to make sure the hyperlinks still work after copying or backing up the files. (I already use relative paths for hyperlinks, because I want the whole folder structure to remain portable and backup-friendly.) But it is extremely impractical.

I would like to find a way to rename and move my files without breaking hyperlinks.

In Windows, it is possible to create a shortcut file and move it to another folder. Even after renaming or moving the original file, the shortcut still points to it.

So I thought I could create a parallel folder structure containing shortcuts and use the path to shortcuts within hyperlinks. However, if I create a hyperlink by manually selecting a shortcut file, LibreOffice automatically converts it to the path of the original file.

If I manually rewrite the proposed hyperlink path

file:///C:/Users/xx/OneDriveyy/zz/something.odt

to my shortcuts folder and change the file extension

file:///C:/Users/xx/OneDriveyy/zz/SHORTCUTS/something.odt.LNK

— LibreOffice then shows this error:“ file X ” cannot be passed to an external application to open it (e.g. it might not be an absolute URL, or might denote no existing file).

Is there any way to create hyperlinks TO SHORTCUTS? Or is there any other reasonable way to rename and move files without breaking hyperlinks?

Thank you.

#2

In file systems, a link is information about the path to a file, it can be relative or absolute.
That information is written as text within a program’s document, and that text is not changed if you move the file.

On Windows and other operating systems, creating a link to a file creates another file (example.lnk),
in that file is the absolute path to the link.

  • If you move the file with the link information you have no problem, because you are moving the file whit the information of path.
  • But in programs (not just LibreOffice) the links are not files, they are text within the content of the documents.
#3

Thank you for your answer.

I tested how Word behaves. I created a parallel structure of folders with shortcuts (e.g. original file A in folders X — Y, shortcut A in folders Shortcuts — X — Y). Then, in Word, I inserted a hyperlink pointing to shortcut A, then I renamed and moved the original file A, and the hyperlink still worked (I could still open the file even though it had a different name and was in another folder).

So it seems that some editors can do what I expect and some cannot. As I create all my files in .odt, I really do not want to migrate to Word.

#4

If I cannot do what I want with LibreOffice, could I find some other solution (for example, a script that would automatically “repair” broken links), or is that rather impossible?

#5

I don’t think any script can guess where a file is moved to repair broken links.

The only option I can find is to rebuild the links manually using the dialog that opens with the menu Edit > External links

#6

Maybe (just an idea) I could automatically assign some kind of “file ID” to all my files — for example, an “invisible” identifier consisting of 10 numbers written in white color and very small font at the end of the document. This “file ID” would remain stable after all later changes.

The script would have access to previous versions of files. It would search for all broken hyperlinks (technically, links pointing to non-existing files). If such a broken link were detected, the script could find the original file in some backup folder, read its “file ID”, then search for the current file with the same “file ID” and rewrite the hyperlink according to the current path.

Yes, this would be extremely complicated, but maybe it could solve my case.

I cannot understand why this is so complicated. Word can do it, Windows shortcuts can do it, yet I have all my files in .odt format and would prefer to stay with LibreOffice. However, my folder structure is becoming less and less manageable, because there are too many files and I cannot create subfolders, rename files, or reorganize folders without breaking hyperlinks.

#7

It seems I have found a way. I found it with AI. I can rename and move linked files and the links are not broken. It is a little complicated, but it seems to work well.

 

The linked files are .odt files. The files containing the links MUST be .doc (.docm) files. (Word is able not to rewrite .lnk URLs.)

 

Let’s suppose all your linked .odt files are stored somewhere inside a folder named FOLDERX. (The code searches upward from the current .odt file and uses the nearest parent folder named FOLDERX as the root folder.)

 

1/ Create a file named helper_file.odt.vbs and save it to C:\Temp. (The code is below, code number 1.)

 

2/ Create a macro in LO Writer, Macro A. (The code is below, code number 2.) This macro saves the .odt file and also automatically creates a .lnk shortcut in the folder Shortcutsx (and a PDF in the folder PDF; if you don’t need PDFs, you can ignore this feature).

 

IT ISN’T POSSIBLE TO DELETE SHORTCUTS, RENAME THEM, OR REORDER THIS FOLDER! However, the folder can be messy. You are not supposed to search for files there, etc.

 

You can customize your toolbar so that you can run this macro with one click, just as easily as saving files in the normal way.

 

3/ Create another macro in LO Writer, Macro B. (The code is below, code number 3.) If you saved a file with Macro A and still have the file open, Macro B copies the path to the matching .lnk file in the folder Shortcutsx to the clipboard. So, you now have the path needed for the URL. (You can customize your toolbar so that you can run this macro with one click.)

 

4/ Create a macro in a DOC file. (The code is below, code number 4.) If you highlight some text in Word and then run the macro (you can customize your Word toolbar so that you can run this macro with one click), it inserts the URL from the clipboard which already contains the URL copied by Macro B.

 

(If I tried to select the path manually, it sometimes changed automatically: I needed the path to the .lnk file, but it changed to the original linked file instead. In addition, if you create links using the macro, the Shortcutsx folder can contain any amount of clutter resulting, for example, from gradual folder reorganizations (remember that nothing should be deleted from this folder, otherwise existing hyperlinks may stop working), and this will not affect your day-to-day use in any way.)

 

To avoid having to confirm every time (twice) that the document is trustworthy, I had to modify the Windows registry. If I remember correctly, the following settings were sufficient:

 

DisableHyperlinkWarning = 1
BlockContentExecutionFromInternet = 0

 

After that, Word stopped repeatedly displaying security warnings when opening linked files.

1/ Code:

Option Explicit

Const ROOT_FOLDER_NAME = "FOLDERX"

Dim fso, Wsh, Lnk
Dim RootFolder, ShortcutsxFolder
Dim DocPath, RelPath, LinkPath, ParentFolder

Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

If WScript.Arguments.Count < 1 Then
    MsgBox "Nebyla predana cesta k ODT."
    WScript.Quit
End If

DocPath = WScript.Arguments(0)

If Not fso.FileExists(DocPath) Then
    MsgBox "Neexistuje ODT: " & DocPath
    WScript.Quit
End If

RootFolder = NajdiKorenovouSlozku(DocPath, ROOT_FOLDER_NAME)

If RootFolder = "" Then
    MsgBox "Soubor neni pod korenem: " & ROOT_FOLDER_NAME
    WScript.Quit
End If

ShortcutsxFolder = RootFolder & "\Shortcutsx"

RelPath = Mid(DocPath, Len(RootFolder) + 2)
LinkPath = fso.BuildPath(ShortcutsxFolder, RelPath)
LinkPath = LinkPath & ".lnk"

ParentFolder = fso.GetParentFolderName(LinkPath)

Call CreateFolders(ParentFolder)

If Not fso.FileExists(LinkPath) Then
    Set Wsh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
    Set Lnk = Wsh.CreateShortcut(LinkPath)
    Lnk.TargetPath = DocPath
    Lnk.WorkingDirectory = fso.GetParentFolderName(DocPath)
    Lnk.Save
End If


Function NajdiKorenovouSlozku(ByVal FilePath, ByVal RootName)

    Dim FolderPath

    FolderPath = fso.GetParentFolderName(FilePath)

    Do While FolderPath <> ""

        If LCase(fso.GetFileName(FolderPath)) = LCase(RootName) Then
            NajdiKorenovouSlozku = FolderPath
            Exit Function
        End If

        If fso.GetParentFolderName(FolderPath) = FolderPath Then Exit Do

        FolderPath = fso.GetParentFolderName(FolderPath)

    Loop

    NajdiKorenovouSlozku = ""

End Function


Sub CreateFolders(FolderPath)
    If FolderPath = "" Then Exit Sub
    If fso.FolderExists(FolderPath) Then Exit Sub
    Call CreateFolders(fso.GetParentFolderName(FolderPath))
    fso.CreateFolder FolderPath
End Sub



2/ Macro A:


Option Explicit

Const VBS_SCRIPT As String = "C:\Temp\helper_file.odt.vbs"
Const ROOT_FOLDER_NAME As String = "FOLDERX"

Sub SaveAndCreateShortcut()

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler

    Dim oDoc As Object
    Dim oDisp As Object
    Dim args(0) As New com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue
    Dim sDocPath As String
    Dim sCmd As String

    oDoc = ThisComponent

    If oDoc.URL = "" Then
        oDisp = createUnoService("com.sun.star.frame.DispatchHelper")
        oDisp.executeDispatch(oDoc.CurrentController.Frame, ".uno:SaveAs", "", 0, args())

        If oDoc.URL = "" Then Exit Sub
    Else
        oDoc.store()
    End If

    sDocPath = ConvertFromURL(oDoc.URL)

    sCmd = "wscript.exe " & Chr(34) & VBS_SCRIPT & Chr(34) & " " & Chr(34) & sDocPath & Chr(34)
    Shell sCmd, 0, True

    ExportPDF

    Exit Sub

ErrorHandler:
    MsgBox "Macro error: " & Err & Chr(13) & Error$, 16, "Error"

End Sub


Sub ExportPDF()

    On Error GoTo PDFError

    Dim oDoc As Object
    Dim sDocPath As String
    Dim sRootFolder As String
    Dim sPdfFolderRoot As String
    Dim sRelPath As String
    Dim sPdfPath As String
    Dim sPdfUrl As String
    Dim sPdfFolder As String
    Dim nDot As Long
    Dim nSlash As Long
    Dim pdfArgs(0) As New com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue

    oDoc = ThisComponent

    If oDoc.URL = "" Then
        MsgBox "Cannot create PDF because the document has not been saved.", 16, "PDF Error"
        Exit Sub
    End If

    sDocPath = ConvertFromURL(oDoc.URL)

    sRootFolder = FindRootFolder(sDocPath, ROOT_FOLDER_NAME)

    If Len(sRootFolder) = 0 Then
        MsgBox "PDF was not created because the folder '" & ROOT_FOLDER_NAME & "' was not found above the document.", 16, "PDF Error"
        Exit Sub
    End If

    sPdfFolderRoot = sRootFolder & "\PDF"

    sRelPath = Mid(sDocPath, Len(sRootFolder) + 2)
    sPdfPath = sPdfFolderRoot & "\" & sRelPath

    nDot = LastPosition(sPdfPath, ".")
    nSlash = LastPosition(sPdfPath, "\")

    If nDot > nSlash Then
        sPdfPath = Left(sPdfPath, nDot - 1) & "_" & TimeStamp() & ".pdf"
    Else
        sPdfPath = sPdfPath & "_" & TimeStamp() & ".pdf"
    End If

    nSlash = LastPosition(sPdfPath, "\")
    sPdfFolder = Left(sPdfPath, nSlash - 1)

    CreateFolders sPdfFolder

    sPdfUrl = ConvertToURL(sPdfPath)

    pdfArgs(0).Name = "FilterName"
    pdfArgs(0).Value = "writer_pdf_Export"

    oDoc.storeToURL(sPdfUrl, pdfArgs)

    Exit Sub

PDFError:
    MsgBox "Error while exporting PDF: " & Err & Chr(13) & Error$, 16, "PDF Error"

End Sub


Function FindRootFolder(ByVal sDocPath As String, ByVal sRootName As String) As String

    Dim sFolder As String
    Dim sName As String
    Dim nSlash As Long

    sFolder = GetFileFolder(sDocPath)

    Do While Len(sFolder) > 3

        sName = GetFolderName(sFolder)

        If LCase(sName) = LCase(sRootName) Then
            FindRootFolder = sFolder
            Exit Function
        End If

        nSlash = LastPosition(sFolder, "\")
        If nSlash <= 3 Then Exit Do

        sFolder = Left(sFolder, nSlash - 1)

    Loop

    FindRootFolder = ""

End Function


Function GetFileFolder(ByVal sFilePath As String) As String

    Dim nSlash As Long

    nSlash = LastPosition(sFilePath, "\")

    If nSlash > 0 Then
        GetFileFolder = Left(sFilePath, nSlash - 1)
    Else
        GetFileFolder = ""
    End If

End Function


Function GetFolderName(ByVal sFolder As String) As String

    Dim nSlash As Long

    nSlash = LastPosition(sFolder, "\")

    If nSlash > 0 Then
        GetFolderName = Mid(sFolder, nSlash + 1)
    Else
        GetFolderName = sFolder
    End If

End Function


Function TimeStamp() As String

    TimeStamp = _
        CStr(Year(Now)) & "-" & _
        Right("0" & CStr(Month(Now)), 2) & "-" & _
        Right("0" & CStr(Day(Now)), 2) & "_" & _
        Right("0" & CStr(Hour(Now)), 2) & _
        Right("0" & CStr(Minute(Now)), 2) & _
        Right("0" & CStr(Second(Now)), 2)

End Function


Sub CreateFolders(ByVal sFolder As String)

    Dim sParent As String
    Dim nSlash As Long

    If Len(sFolder) = 0 Then Exit Sub
    If Dir(sFolder, 16) <> "" Then Exit Sub

    nSlash = LastPosition(sFolder, "\")
    If nSlash <= 3 Then Exit Sub

    sParent = Left(sFolder, nSlash - 1)

    If Dir(sParent, 16) = "" Then
        CreateFolders sParent
    End If

    MkDir sFolder

End Sub


Function LastPosition(ByVal sText As String, ByVal sSearch As String) As Long

    Dim i As Long

    For i = Len(sText) To 1 Step -1
        If Mid(sText, i, Len(sSearch)) = sSearch Then
            LastPosition = i
            Exit Function
        End If
    Next i

    LastPosition = 0

End Function

____

3/ Macro B

Option Explicit

Const ROOT_FOLDER_NAME As String = "FOLDERX"

Sub CopyShortcutPathToClipboard()

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler

    Dim oDoc As Object
    Dim sDocPath As String
    Dim sRootFolder As String
    Dim sRelPath As String
    Dim sLinkPath As String

    oDoc = ThisComponent

    If oDoc.URL = "" Then
        MsgBox "The document has not been saved.", 16, "Error"
        Exit Sub
    End If

    sDocPath = ConvertFromURL(oDoc.URL)

    sRootFolder = FindRootFolder(sDocPath, ROOT_FOLDER_NAME)

    If Len(sRootFolder) = 0 Then
        MsgBox "The document is not located in the folder " & ROOT_FOLDER_NAME & ".", 16, "Error"
        Exit Sub
    End If

    sRelPath = Mid(sDocPath, Len(sRootFolder) + 2)

    sLinkPath = sRootFolder & "\Shortcutsx\" & sRelPath
    sLinkPath = sLinkPath & ".lnk"

    CopyTextToClipboard sLinkPath

    Exit Sub

ErrorHandler:
    MsgBox "Macro error: " & Err & Chr(13) & Error$, 16, "Error"

End Sub


Function FindRootFolder(ByVal sDocPath As String, ByVal sRootName As String) As String

    Dim sFolder As String
    Dim sName As String
    Dim nSlash As Long

    sFolder = GetFileFolder(sDocPath)

    Do While Len(sFolder) > 3

        sName = GetFolderName(sFolder)

        If LCase(sName) = LCase(sRootName) Then
            FindRootFolder = sFolder
            Exit Function
        End If

        nSlash = LastPosition(sFolder, "\")
        If nSlash <= 3 Then Exit Do

        sFolder = Left(sFolder, nSlash - 1)

    Loop

    FindRootFolder = ""

End Function


Function GetFileFolder(ByVal sFilePath As String) As String

    Dim nSlash As Long

    nSlash = LastPosition(sFilePath, "\")

    If nSlash > 0 Then
        GetFileFolder = Left(sFilePath, nSlash - 1)
    Else
        GetFileFolder = ""
    End If

End Function


Function GetFolderName(ByVal sFolder As String) As String

    Dim nSlash As Long

    nSlash = LastPosition(sFolder, "\")

    If nSlash > 0 Then
        GetFolderName = Mid(sFolder, nSlash + 1)
    Else
        GetFolderName = sFolder
    End If

End Function


Function LastPosition(ByVal sText As String, ByVal sSearch As String) As Long

    Dim i As Long

    For i = Len(sText) To 1 Step -1
        If Mid(sText, i, Len(sSearch)) = sSearch Then
            LastPosition = i
            Exit Function
        End If
    Next i

    LastPosition = 0

End Function


Sub CopyTextToClipboard(ByVal sText As String)

    Dim oClip As Object
    Dim oTransferable As Object

    oClip = createUnoService("com.sun.star.datatransfer.clipboard.SystemClipboard")
    oTransferable = CreateUnoListener("Clip_", "com.sun.star.datatransfer.XTransferable")

    gClipText = sText

    oClip.setContents(oTransferable, Nothing)

End Sub


Global gClipText As String


Function Clip_getTransferData(aFlavor)
    If aFlavor.MimeType = "text/plain;charset=utf-16" Then
        Clip_getTransferData = gClipText
    Else
        Clip_getTransferData = gClipText
    End If
End Function


Function Clip_getTransferDataFlavors()
    Dim aFlavor(0) As New com.sun.star.datatransfer.DataFlavor
    aFlavor(0).MimeType = "text/plain;charset=utf-16"
    aFlavor(0).HumanPresentableName = "Unicode Text"
    Clip_getTransferDataFlavors = aFlavor()
End Function


Function Clip_isDataFlavorSupported(aFlavor) As Boolean
    Clip_isDataFlavorSupported = True
End Function
____


4/

Option Explicit

#If VBA7 Then
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function OpenClipboard Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As LongPtr) As Long
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function CloseClipboard Lib "user32" () As Long
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function GetClipboardData Lib "user32" (ByVal wFormat As Long) As LongPtr
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function IsClipboardFormatAvailable Lib "user32" (ByVal wFormat As Long) As Long
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function GlobalLock Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hMem As LongPtr) As LongPtr
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function GlobalUnlock Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hMem As LongPtr) As Long
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function lstrlenW Lib "kernel32" (ByVal lpString As LongPtr) As Long
    Private Declare PtrSafe Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (ByVal Destination As LongPtr, ByVal Source As LongPtr, ByVal Length As LongPtr)
#Else
    Private Declare Function OpenClipboard Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long) As Long
    Private Declare Function CloseClipboard Lib "user32" () As Long
    Private Declare Function GetClipboardData Lib "user32" (ByVal wFormat As Long) As Long
    Private Declare Function IsClipboardFormatAvailable Lib "user32" (ByVal wFormat As Long) As Long
    Private Declare Function GlobalLock Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hMem As Long) As Long
    Private Declare Function GlobalUnlock Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hMem As Long) As Long
    Private Declare Function lstrlenW Lib "kernel32" (ByVal lpString As Long) As Long
    Private Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (ByVal Destination As Long, ByVal Source As Long, ByVal Length As Long)
#End If

Private Const CF_UNICODETEXT As Long = 13

Sub InsertHyperlinkFromClipboardToSelectedText()

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler

    Dim sAddress As String
    Dim r As Range
    Dim sDisplayText As String

    If Selection.Range.Start = Selection.Range.End Then
        MsgBox "First select the text that should become the hyperlink.", vbExclamation, "No text selected"
        Exit Sub
    End If

    sAddress = Trim$(GetTextFromWindowsClipboard())

    If Len(sAddress) = 0 Then
        MsgBox "There is no readable text in the clipboard." & vbCrLf & _
               "Try checking it by pressing Ctrl+V in Notepad.", _
               vbExclamation, "Clipboard"
        Exit Sub
    End If

    Set r = Selection.Range
    sDisplayText = r.Text

    ActiveDocument.Hyperlinks.Add _
        Anchor:=r, _
        Address:=sAddress, _
        TextToDisplay:=sDisplayText

    Exit Sub

ErrorHandler:
    MsgBox "Macro error: " & Err.Number & vbCrLf & Err.Description, vbCritical, "Error"

End Sub

Function GetTextFromWindowsClipboard() As String

    On Error GoTo EndFunction

    Dim hData As LongPtr
    Dim pData As LongPtr
    Dim nChars As Long
    Dim sText As String

    If IsClipboardFormatAvailable(CF_UNICODETEXT) = 0 Then GoTo EndFunction
    If OpenClipboard(0) = 0 Then GoTo EndFunction

    hData = GetClipboardData(CF_UNICODETEXT)
    If hData = 0 Then GoTo CloseIt

    pData = GlobalLock(hData)
    If pData = 0 Then GoTo CloseIt

    nChars = lstrlenW(pData)
    If nChars > 0 Then
        sText = String$(nChars, vbNullChar)
        CopyMemory StrPtr(sText), pData, nChars * 2
        GetTextFromWindowsClipboard = sText
    End If

    GlobalUnlock hData

CloseIt:
    CloseClipboard

EndFunction:

End Function

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