# External links to Scrivener not working from Scapple **URL:** \ **Category:** Scapple for Windows\ **Tags:** bug, linking\ **Created:** [May 28, 2025, 2:37pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618 "2025-05-28T14:37:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jofori](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/jofori/32/19208_2.png) [@jofori](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/jofori)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 5:51pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/1 "2025-05-27T17:51:52Z")
Hi I have exported a PDF from Scapple. Imported it into Scrivener both Embedded and linked examples. I highlight some text inside the PDF but cannot link it to an internal document from the Edit menu - they are all greyed out? i.e. Add Link, Link to Document etc Is this normal that one cannot create a link from the PDF (text) to an Internal document? Kindest regards Jay ---
**Author:** ![kewms](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/kewms/32/15720_2.png) [@kewms](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/kewms)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 7:12pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/2 "2025-05-27T19:12:42Z")
Yes, that’s normal. Scrivener can’t edit PDFs. You can add a Document Bookmark, though. ---
**Author:** ![jofori](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/jofori/32/19208_2.png) [@jofori](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/jofori)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 2:20pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/3 "2025-05-28T14:20:16Z")
Hi, Now, I have a slightly different issue… I used “Copy Document Link” from scrivener to scapple. Created a Link on a text in a note. Exported as PDF and imported into Scrivener. In Scrivener, Clicking the link in the PDF does (nothing) i.e. Not navigate to the Internal Document .(which is different from my earlier attempt trying to highlight text and create a link inside Scrivener). What am I doing wrong? Kindest regards Jay ---
**Author:** ![jofori](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/jofori/32/19208_2.png) [@jofori](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/jofori)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 2:37pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/4 "2025-05-28T14:37:34Z")
Hiya although your method works to create well positioned links, the link won’t open an Internal Document. using Copy Document Link pasted into a Scapple Link and exported as PDF. If you have sometime can you try that for me? Kindest regards Jay ---
**Author:** ![Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/vincent_vincent/32/19680_2.png) [@Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Vincent_Vincent)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 2:44pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/5 "2025-05-28T14:44:44Z")
The issue is not with Scapple, but rather that Scrivener doesn’t know where to open a link that is triggered from outside Scrivener. I’ll try to figure out a fix… ---
**Author:** ![AmberV](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/amberv/32/13021_2.png) [@AmberV](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/AmberV)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 2:49pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/6 "2025-05-28T14:49:41Z")
> [@jofori](#): > > although your method works to create well positioned links, the link won’t open an Internal Document. > using Copy Document Link pasted into a Scapple Link and exported as PDF. So long as the link URL starts with something like `x-scrivener-item://...`, then it should work, both in Scapple and in an exported PDF from it. Whether the link actually activates from your PDF viewer is another matter though, some might have a security block against opening other software. If it works in Scapple itself, then that’s more what I’d be inclined to suspect. ---
**Author:** ![Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/vincent_vincent/32/19680_2.png) [@Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Vincent_Vincent)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 2:50pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/7 "2025-05-28T14:50:39Z")
@AmberV It doesn’t work. ![image](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/uploads/default/original/3X/a/5/a55233dcec3db1583afcfbd6aaae7f66baa5fa4b.png) ---
**Author:** ![AmberV](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/amberv/32/13021_2.png) [@AmberV](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/AmberV)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 2:52pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/8 "2025-05-28T14:52:07Z")
As a baseline test, try Start Menu, load “Run”, and paste the URL directly into the run field and press Enter. That should load the linked item in Scrivener, and if it does not, it again might be some kind of security software or system block. Oh, and check for spaces maybe? I see in your screenshot raw spaces instead of %20 encoding. I would have though that would have happened somewhere automatically down the line though. ---
**Author:** ![jofori](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/jofori/32/19208_2.png) [@jofori](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/jofori)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/9 "2025-05-28T14:55:04Z")
Yes that’s how I’ve being doing it and it works with linking to external Documents and opening Documents in external apps, but not with an Internal Document. ---
**Author:** ![Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/vincent_vincent/32/19680_2.png) [@Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Vincent_Vincent)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/10 "2025-05-28T14:55:18Z")
Run worked. But Scapple doesn’t. (However my link is – spaces – I only pasted what `Copy document link` gave me.) And it doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![jofori](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/jofori/32/19208_2.png) [@jofori](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/jofori)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 2:57pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/11 "2025-05-28T14:57:36Z")
Hi, yes I checked for spaces, Run - that bit Works, it opens in a CopyHolder (and it looks just as expected when pasted in “Run”) ---
**Author:** ![Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/vincent_vincent/32/19680_2.png) [@Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Vincent_Vincent)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 2:58pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/12 "2025-05-28T14:58:01Z")
I replaced the spaces in my project name with %20 in Scapple’s link : fail It opens or gives focus to the project, but that’s it. It doesn’t navigate to the concerned document. (It was already doing that. The %20 made no difference.) ---
**Author:** ![AmberV](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/amberv/32/13021_2.png) [@AmberV](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/AmberV)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 3:06pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/13 "2025-05-28T15:06:59Z")
Okay, I split all of this off to a bug thread, in Scapple for now, but maybe it’s a Scrivener problem. From my testing, it does seem to be a problem with spaces, where even when they are encoded it doesn’t work. In my first test I was linking to a project that was rather creatively called “link.scriv”. This works fine, from both Scapple and PDF. When I renamed the project to “link test.scriv”, and created a new link, it stopped working, with either `link test.scriv` and `link%20test.scriv`. So something is definitely broken somewhere—and whether it is Scapple or Scrivener I cannot say. We’ll have to look into it. ---
**Author:** ![Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/vincent_vincent/32/19680_2.png) [@Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Vincent_Vincent)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/14 "2025-05-28T15:08:08Z")
Well, it is a good start. Just don’t have spaces in your project’s name. ---
**Author:** ![AmberV](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/amberv/32/13021_2.png) [@AmberV](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/AmberV)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/15 "2025-05-28T15:08:41Z")
Exactly, be a nerd like me and always name files like you\_would\_on\_a\_web\_server.scriv. 😆 ---
**Author:** ![Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/vincent_vincent/32/19680_2.png) [@Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Vincent_Vincent)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 3:10pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/16 "2025-05-28T15:10:56Z")
I just tested a rename to Dummy-forum-project.scrivx It worked flawlessly. ---
**Author:** ![jofori](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/jofori/32/19208_2.png) [@jofori](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/jofori)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 3:12pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/17 "2025-05-28T15:12:44Z")
Does it work if you rename it to Dummy\_forum\_project.scrivx ---
**Author:** ![Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/vincent_vincent/32/19680_2.png) [@Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Vincent_Vincent)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 3:14pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/18 "2025-05-28T15:14:52Z")
Most assurely. Amber just did. No need to specifically test that. Spaces are the issue as far as we mortal users are concerned. Period. You should be good to go. Will it work in a Scapple-exported PDF imported back in Scrivener? That’s another story. We’ll see – report back. ---
**Author:** ![jofori](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/jofori/32/19208_2.png) [@jofori](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/jofori)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 3:18pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/19 "2025-05-28T15:18:24Z")
I have tried both and they still don’t work… I saved my project with a hyphen and an underscore, copied a new document link from scrivener, pasted into Scapple exported PDF and the link still does Nothing Running latest Scapple and Scrivener Versions No errors Note: If I use the Run command, it opens in Scrivener in a Copy Holder Window ---
**Author:** ![Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/vincent_vincent/32/19680_2.png) [@Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Vincent_Vincent)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 3:19pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618/20 "2025-05-28T15:19:25Z")
Can you confirm that it worked up to the point where you tried the link in the exported/imported PDF? [Next page](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/external-links-to-scrivener-not-working-from-scapple/147618.md?page=2)