One thing always works, the other doesn't

I apologize if the answer to my “problem” has already been given.

I’ll keep it short, without much explanation. There are different ways to create links to a folder in the Finder. The differences are also clearly visible. The Finder window opens with one link in the foreground and the other in the background.

The upper link no longer works after a certain time, while the lower one (icon) always works. I could now ask, why. But that seems pointless to me. But maybe someone has a comment? Thanks :slight_smile:

More details please. How are „links in the Finder“ related to DT? Where do you create these links, in which kind of document?

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My English is not very good, but I actually wrote “links to a folder in the Finder”. :slightly_smiling_face:I click on the link (in DT) and the Finder window opens.

I drag a folder from the Finder into a DT RTF document with or without control.

Then why are you posting? :laughing:

That aside:
1) They look different
2) They behave differently
= They are clearly not the same.

So how might you investigate?
The URLs are probably different. Right click > Edit Link. What do you see?

… Since it was a quick test, I did it. Control + drag & drop from Finder results in a file link: ‌file:///Users/<user>/Documents/Test%20Folder.

Drag & drop from Finder with no modifier key gives me this warning:

Don’t you get that?

If I select “Alias”, the result is similar to your screenshot. Also, the .rtf turns into an .rtfd (Rich Text Format Directory). If I inspect the contents, I indeed see a Finder alias:

(“Henvisning” = alias)

So that explains it: one is a normal link – the other is an alias (the one with the icon).

Normal links break when the target is moved. An alias generally still works.

Finally: shift-click an outgoing link to open it in the foreground.

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Haha, you’re right. Maybe because I wanted an intelligent comment like yours without constricting it with my questions.

Is that the case for you? Not for me. If I move the target both link and alias no longer work. But the point is, the target is not moved. And yet the link stops working at some point. Whereas the alias always works.

Do you perhaps have a link that you created a few months ago? Does it still work?

If so, this is probably a problem that only I have. Maybe it is due to my setup. Then the lesson would be to only use alias :slight_smile:

  • Why are you linking Finder folders in RTF documents?
  • What are you doing with the documents, e.g, editing, syncing, using on other platforms, etc.?
  • Have you tried the same behavior with TextEdit?

Do you perhaps have a link that you created a few months ago? Does it still work?

Because sometimes I want to see the contents of the folder in the context of that DT document.

Nothing.

No, I don’t use TextEdit.

Try doing the same stuff in it. If it behaves identically, it’s an issue (if it is an issue at all) of the engine powering DT’s and TextEditor’s RTF handling.

You might also want to have a look at the source of the document to see what the link(s) look like.

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