Link to local PDF File

[Jan Jursa]

Friends ,

what's the best way to link to a local PDF?
I know, I can link to a website and I can link to topics, but I want to have a relative link to a PDF file. Lying somewhere in the Flare output file structure.

Cheers,
Jan

[carolynmwallace]

I think all you have to do is copy the PDF file to your Content folder, then link to it in your topic. If you want to be really tidy about it, you can create a folder IN your Content folder and call it "PDFs" or "Assets" or something...a place where you can put things other than topics or images so you can find them again easily.

I hope a more experienced Propeller Head will correct me if I'm wrong!

[Jan Jursa]

Propeller Heads? - I like that

yea, I agree with what you say. That's how I think it should work... I just don't know how to do it.

When I try to do a link, I can link to:
- Place in Document
- Doc currentyl open
- File in current folder
- Recent file
- Topic in project
- External topic
- Website
- Email

Nothing does fit a "relative link to a pdf in a different folder" ..?

So, how does it work?
Cheers

[carolynmwallace]

I tested both of these methods in Flare v2.5 and they both worked. They should work for higher versions of Flare too.

METHOD 1:
I copied my PDF file into my Content folder.
I used the "Insert Hyperlink" command with "File in current folder," browsed to the PDF file, and clicked OK.

METHOD 2:
I created a folder called Assets and put it in my Content folder. Inside Assets I had my PDF file.
I opened a topic in Flare. In the right pane, I had the Content Explorer open with the Assets folder expanded.
I dragged the PDF from the Assets folder in the Content Explorer to a paragraph in my topic. It automatically created a hyperlink.

After using both of these methods, I built my targets, testing both WebHelp and Microsoft HTML Help outputs. When the final outputs were ready, I opened the topic with my PDF links in it. In the WebHelp version, clicking the links opened the PDF right in the WebHelp. In the Microsoft HTML Help output, the PDF opened in a new window. But they both worked.

NOTE: I don't what would happen to the PDF links in a Print output. I'm pretty sure the PDF would not be included in the Output.