[halh]

I'd like to use OO4 Pro as a document composition tool, ultimately transferring the document to epub or Pages format. I've been unable to export the embedded links to files successfully, even in OPML format.

My goal is to be able to access the files via the ported links in the new document.

How can I accomplish this?

[DerekM]

I would recommend trying the Microsoft Word document format. That can even be imported to Pages. But, that format is not designed to be a replica of your outline, so if it doesn't do what you need, then more information on the structure of your document would be helpful.

[halh]

Derek,

I've attached a test file, Test of Links.oo3. Of course the links to my files won't work, but you can see how I generated the link and test in a similar fashion.
The embedded image displays in Word 2011 Mac, the links appear active but do not open the files. Opening the .docx file in Pages reveals the image but the links aren't active.

I thought I've attached the file but I don't see any indication of it.

[DerekM]

There's a fairly small file attachment limit for the forums. Though I realize now I was not reading your post clearly enough. Is what you want possible to accomplish by creating the file directly in Pages?

[halh]

Derek,

The file was quite small, 573 KB. Perhaps I don't know how to use the Manage Attachments -- I chose the file but there wasn't any UPLOAD button.

Nevertheless, the file was set up as follows (4 lines)
- "Test for the transfer"
- Using Attach (icon for doc file) with link with link inserted in the Note field
- Using Attach as an outline point rather than a note (icon for linked pdf file here)
- Dragging a file (an image was dragged from Finder below the outline point

What was to be a simple test discovered the following:
--The links remain active ONLY when exported as .rtf, both when read as .rtf (links not underlined) and when the rtf file was opened with Mac Word 2011; of course the embedded image is not visible in this format
--Mac Word 2011 does not successfully parse the links from the exported docx file. The embedded image is shown however.

At present, I don't believe OO 4 reliably transfers links and images to other formats.

My workflow:

Devonthink Pro -->MindNode Pro (visual grouping of subsets of subject, links created)
MindNode Pro --> OO for detailed notes for lecture (references transferred manually, excerpts placed in outline with ref link in 2nd column )

I was looking to expand my workflow to a word processing document.

[DerekM]

Ok, my confusion was with being unclear what files you were attaching, images are working to your satisfaction, correct?

Try control dragging your files into the OmniOutliner document to create links instead of using the Attach button. These two methods are currently creating links differently with the Attach button method missing a flag to indicate that it should be treated as a hyperlink. Unfortunately neither method actually works in a sandboxed environment between launches of the app, but that won't matter for exporting.

*EDIT*
Actually, the difference is with dragging in a link directly into a row versus dragging it in such that it creates a new row for it. The name of the attachment looks like a file:/// url then it will export as you need.

[halh]

Derek,

Ctrl-drag definitely gives more "reliable results". I linked an image file, a pdf file and a docx file.

Here's what I learned.
- rtf export

• MS Word translates the rtf export correctly although some manipulation is required to open the pdf. Yes, even the image opens from the link.

• Mellel reads the rtf perfectly, all links open, with no further manipulation

- docx export
MS Word corrupts the pdf and image link in this export

- OPML export: I used MindNode Pro to test this export. Only the file link was translated successfully, and the the file opened as expected. Exporting the MindNode file as OPML for OO4, resulted in the file link with the complete path being successfully transferred.

In each successful case, the file path was transferred with the link, e.g. file:///Users/username/Documents/subdirectory/filename.suffix. Interestingly, in OO 4, only the docx file explicitly displayed the full path as the link, the pdf and image file had this path hidden.

Hope this provides some insight.

[DerekM]

There is a limitation in the Docx format that doesn't allow spaces and I think a few special characters in file names. This is not something the exporters are able to handle and will require a bigger change to the app to fix. However, you should be able to import it to Pages and have it work as it is generally much more relaxed about importing docx files. If this isn't the issue, please send example files to omnioutliner@omnigroup.com so we can see exactly what's going on. Thanks!

[halh]

Derek,

It turns out Pages 5 does not accept hyperlinks to documents, Pages 4 did not import the file cleanly!

I will use Mellel for OO4 rtf export, all works smoothly.
This was a long excursion, but I learned a lot about OO4 advantages and limitations.

Thank you for your quick responses.