I can’t seem to get absolute links to work on Android 13+ with latest Obsidian to files external to the vault. (End of 2025)
Does anyone have a working solution?
- [PDF](file:///storage/emulated/0/Downloads/myfile.pdf) I can’t get this kind of thing to work
- similar trial with a href links
- I tried a few notable plugins
- Trying to avoid having all files inside vault
- File command is correct as I am copying from MiX explorer
- Absolute links working perfect in windows, I understand the android restrictions can be complex.
I was thinking I might need to create a local http sever, and link to files that way, but thought someone may of succeeded with a more direct solution.
The idea is for key files to have absolute links for both windows an andriod locally (files are synced to file sever) as there is two vaults, the idea is that some files will be pointed too outside the vault to keep things tidy and not need duplicate files, I want to avoid nesting vaults and having everything in vaults so they are clean for searching.
Resources/Forums that I have tried to review:
Obsidian Forum Threads:
- How to link a local file in Obsidian? – Mostly desktop-focused (e.g., handling spaces in Mac paths); little mobile discussion.
- Linking to file outside the vault folder – Discusses file: URIs and symlinks, but notes path inconsistencies on Android and Syncthing.
- Absolute or Relative path: Default location for new notes should be ignored when creating files by link – About path handling for new notes and Templater workarounds; not relevant to external files.
- Relative path: Link points to a wrong file with same file name – Covers ambiguity in relative links; suggestions like
./but no resolution for external files.
Android/General Development Discussions:
- Access a local file with file:// in Android (Stack Overflow) – Explains Android security restrictions on file:// URIs.
- Hyperlinks to files in the Android 10+ file system (Android Stack Exchange) – Discusses scoped storage limitations for local file links.
- Opening local HTML/files with file:// in Chrome on Android (Android Stack Exchange) – Highlights ongoing issues with local file access in browsers/apps.
- How to get a local filesystem link for an offline Dropbox PDF (Android Stack Exchange) – Related to accessing cached/local files via URIs.
Other:
- Simple link to local files and directories? (Reddit r/AndroidQuestions) – Community questions about basic local file linking on Android.
- LocalSend app for cross-device sharing (XDA Developers) – Mentioned as an alternative sharing tool, but not for persistent linking.
At this stage, since no reliable absolute file:// solution exists on Android 13+, I’m planning to try next AWebServer (Apache + PHP + SQL) or a similar lightweight HTTP server app to serve the external files locally and link via http://127.0.0.1``:port/.... I thought someone may have a simple solution!
Thankyou for your help! I posted this on reddit also.