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Rafael Muynarsk
Asked: 2019-03-25 09:50:24 +0800 CST

Is it possible to use .desktop files to open local pdf files on specific pages with a browser?

  • 772

I'd like to use desktop files to open pdf files on specific pages, I've tried creating a file with the following syntax:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=mypdf.pdf
Type=Link
URL=file:///home/myhomefolder/mypdf.pdf#page=45
Icon=application-pdf

When I open this file the default browser opens my pdf file on page 1, it's like it considers #page=45 as a comment, even though if I paste the address file:///home/myhomefolder/mypdf.pdf#page=45 directly on the browser I get the expected result (the pdf opens on page 45)...

I realized that if I use this syntax for pdf files on the internet it works as expected and it opens the pdf on the page that I've predetermined, the problem is only with local files. Is it possible to use desktop files to open local pdf files on specific pages? Or is it a limitation of desktop files?

pdf .desktop

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Use url?

    I need to look it up, but I seem to remember Type Link is deprecated in a .desktop file. Anyway, it won't work here as you found out. Encoding is deprecated for sure, but that isn't the issue. Furthermore, xdg-open won't work; it will open your default application for pdf files.

    Then what to use?

    Create a .desktop file, calling your preferred browser with the pdf file + page as argument. In your example:

    [Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Open pdf on page 45
Exec=firefox 'file:///home/myhomefolder/mypdf.pdf#page=45'
Icon=application-pdf

    enter image description here

    Then make it executable and double-click. If you are using another browser, you need to change the Exec= -line to reflect that.

    • 10

  2. Some document viewers allow you to start them with an argument pointing to the desired page.

    From evince --help:

      -i, --page-index=NUMBER     The page number of the document to display.

    Therefore, your .desktop file could look like this:

    [Desktop Entry]
Name=mypdf.pdf page 45
Type=Link
Exec=evince --page-index=45 /home/myhomefolder/mypdf.pdf
Icon=application-pdf
    • 6