Insert a hyperlink to a file (not a URL)

Open a Word document.
Save it as an .htm/.html file.
type some words for the link
highlight those words
Insert / Hyperlink ... and it will open a file selection / explorer dialog.
Select the file.
Test by pressing Control and clicking on the link words.

hi, i dont believe A file saved as an html cant be edited?  LN does not have an easy way to insert a link to a file in its native file extention?  This would be the best way i believe.

Or maybe just the directory?

Let me see if I understand what you are looking to accomplish.

Doc1.doc  has a link within it to open another doc or pdf on your network.

Copy the folder path from the address bar
i.e.  \\Server1\Share1\doc1.doc

Then goto Insert > Hyperlink > and paste the address in the address field in the Insert Hyperlink Window/wizard. > Press OK

That is pretty much it.
 

Yobee:
thanks for esponse
<Then goto Insert > Hyperlink > and paste the address in the address field in the Insert Hyperlink Window/wizard. > Press OK

i dont believe that is for files but only for a URL.  At least in my version it is.  

Are you certain it is a link to a file or a directory?

What version are you running?

I have been doing it since Office 2000 - 2010

This is from 2007


Screen-Shot-2011-10-03-at-10.58..png
Screen-Shot-2011-10-03-at-10.59..png

If you want to browse you can click on the folder that is annotated with a red rectangle.

Screen-Shot-2011-10-03-at-10.58..png

You could also save it as a .doc file.
The hyperlink insert tool works there as well.

@Fmarshall

How would a link be inserted by saving the file?

Yobe:  
I believe you have given instruction to inserting a link Within WORD.  It is Lotus Notes what i am interested in.

Do you know how to di the same within LN?

sorry.  I misunderstood your question.  I am not a Lotus Notes guy so LN did not jump out at me.

Sorry for the confusion.

I looked again and I dont know how I posted this to the wrong area.  Anyways, I think I will ask for attention.   Sorry about that.

Similar process for lotus notes. You can either just paste in the path to the file and add to the beginning file:

so as example it would become file:\\server\share\directory\filename.ext

Try to not use spaces or from within the notes client start your new mail etc and in the body area select create hyperlink and replace http:// with file: and past in path as above.

yo bee:  A link is NOT inserted by saving the file.  But getting an html file with Word is had by saving a blank file.  Not a big deal.    ...... and, this isn't a chat room.

doninja:
You mean like this:
file:\\C:\Documents and Settings\fin001\My Documents\Work\Technip\Customer Docs\Worley Parsons\KQ comments.doc

It did not open the file although it did appear as a hyperlink

Can you insert a link hotspot?

I dont think so.  I just tried it and you have to select some text in the email then Create / Hot Spot and the choices after that are only URL, Link and Named Element.  the Link choice does not have a field to paste a link such as a path to a file or at least it is not intuitive.

I do not like LN.  

In the link hotspot, add the URL in the form of file://c:/path/file.doc
By the way, the earlier file-url was incorrect, a url must contain slashes instead of backslashes.

Sjef is right.  This is as easy to accomplish in LN as in Word.

1) Select some text.
2) Select Create > Hyperlink from the menu.
3) Enter the URL to the file.  URLs to files are allays in the form "file://PATH", just like Word and every other client I've seen.  So if the file is C:\Temp\some.doc, then the URL would be "file://C:\Temp\some.doc" (without the quotes).

sjef:  
<In the link hotspot, add the URL in the form of file://c:/path/file.doc
==>Ithe only place where I see a field might be able to accept a file path is under the field called "VALUE" but not sure why it would be called that name if it accepts a URL.  Anyways, I tried it and it opens up the internet within LN but it does not open the word doc.  I thinik it is only for a URL and not a file or at least it seems so.

file://C:/Documents and Settings/fin001/My Documents/Work/Technip/Customer Docs/Worley Parsons/KQ comments.doc

When I do put the path there in the Value field, LN puts another slash mark in the front making it 3 instead of 2 ...file:/// instead of file://   dont know if that makes  a diff.

It seems as though LN can not link to a file?
any other ideas?  
   

Bill...thank you,
is there suppose to be  "file: \\"  in front fo the C:  
like this:
file:\\C:\Documents and Settings\fin001\My Documents\Work\Technip\Customer Docs\Worley Parsons\KQ comments.doc

It is file:// always, with the slashes, otherwise it isn't a proper URL (which it should be). The path may contain backslashes.

Bill

does anything look wrong here?

file://C:\Documents and Settings\fin001\Desktop\Hello2.doc

Please see screen print as well.
untitled.JPG

nevermind the UserName part...

That looks good to me.

My only concern is that you seem to be linking to a non-shared location.  Are you sure the file is there?

Yes, the file is definitely there.  I right click the file and see the path and this is what I am using.

Anything else?

LN sure does make it difficult to do somethign that should be so simple.  

I can only confirm that it work exactly as Bill says. If you replace all backslashes by slashes (don't!) the file opens in the browser. Even the spaces in Documents and Settings don't seem to be an issue.

Do you send the mail? Try first to save the mail only, using Ctrl-E and Save only, and then click the link. Does the file open? Here it does. I hope you understand that, when you send the mail, the file won't be sent along, for you send only the link to a file, not the file itself. Consequently, the receiving user cannot open the mail when it is on your (local) disk. Hence Bill's question about the non-shared location.

yep was typing wrong on first post as people have stated it is forward slash not backward on the initial part of the link.

This all uses your current browser functionality to open a file.

To see if it works in your operating system ok, you can try to put the link in the run or search box under start button. Or use IE and put in the address bar replacing the http://blah.blah

this should initiate a browser open/run on the selected file and test that it works as a link.

Final is that some browsers do not like spaces in a url and don't convert but most should be ok in this situation.


Lotus does make file sharing easy if using the right tools. With QuickR or similar file storage the file is placed in a shared location where a simple link to the file can be sent or made. You can also drag and drop file into a mail to have it attached automatically.
Just because a user can see a file it cannot be assumed others can see a file, such as on a local hard disk and not on a server so some file management/sharing should really be setup.
Looking forward to 8.5.3 the new File Connections addons will allow simple file sharing using drag and drop on the client.

sjef:
<Do you send the mail? Try first
I tried to send to myself but the link does not work.  It says it cant find the file.  The path I gave is from right click of the file so that must be teh path.  

WAIT!
I did get the file to open in the web browser.

this is teh exact path I used:
file://C:\Documents and Settings\anjohnson\My Documents\Work\Technip\Customer Docs\Worley Parsons\KQ comments.doc

(but the browser removed the file:// part)

I tried again in LN but to no avail.

What do you think?

Can you try from a real browser, e.g. Firefox? ;-)

In IE, the spaces might be the issue. Either replace the spaces by %20 or use the internal MS-DOS name of the folders in the path (e.g. docume~1 instead of Documents and Settings)

Sjef:  it opened up in Firefox too.
I used teh same exact path as I did in IE:
file://C:\Documents and Settings\anjohnson\My Documents\Work\Technip\Customer Docs\Worley Parsons\KQ comments.doc

I guess I need to make sure that how I am doing this correctly in LN
Please see pic below.

Anything wrong you see?  Or maybe there is some setting in LN that is not correct?


untitled.JPG

OK it actually worked in the READ MODE.   The file did open.

HOWEVER, when I sent it, the link did not work.  It gave me the same error as "cant find file"

What do you think now?  

Try like this:
file://C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\All%20Users.LOG

Instead of the spaces, use %20.

As I suggested before, you could use the MS-DOS names for the directories and files with spaces. Use the Command Prompt window to find out those names., use the command DIR /X to display the short names.

sjef:  
It seems like it is something to do with the C: drive because I tried a link to the network and it worked and even with spaces.  

The %20 added was not the solution for linking to the C: though.  

Although it does work when I tried in read mode (cntrol E).

this is what I pasted in the HotSpot Link:
file://C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\anjohnson\My%20Documents\Work\CoName\Customer%20Docs\Worley%20Parsons\KQ%20comments.doc

What do you think?

still not working.  

It does work in the READ MODE (control e) but if I send it it is a different story.

I am about to say that there is something wrong with our version of LN?
It works on your end you said, correct?

WAIT!
I CALLED IT.  
This needs to be in the beginning:
\\FS10-HOU\Vol2\

it works now.

I think that Doninja mentioned this in the beginning.  But I thought that the server name was already in the path name but apparently it was not.

thank yoiu