Linking (Alt + Paste) and Syncing files from OneDrive to Joplin

xcever · 2023-11-20T23:27:07.217Z

Hi dear Reader,

I am using Joplin for my PhD, as a lab journal and to take notes etc.
I run everything over OneDrive, syncing my data from experiments across my work and home computer so I can work in both locations.
Part of this are excel, word, graphpad and fusion files that I need to open and edit then close again.
I have a folder structure that I use to keep track of all of those files.

My problem now becomes that I love the way you can link files into Joplin, but I recently figured out that I will create it's own local copy, meaning that when I'm editing that, it's not editing the file in the folder, but rather the file that joplin made for itself.

Now I found out that you can use ALT + paste to get the local directory name that would link to the file:
[random.docx](file:///C:/Users/XXX/OneDrive%UniXXX/Meetings/random.docx)
However, the directory used on my work station, does not match my home computer. Is there a way that I can link the file such that Joplin knows it's location on both computers?
Since it's always in Onedrive, could I make a relative path and point the Joplin on my work station to the "start" of OneDrive and provide the rest of the link and do the same at my home computer?

Thank you for taking your time to read this. I'm sorry if there was another post already discussing this, I couldn't find it.

And thanks for everyone working on Joplin. When I get more of a handle on programming I will take a whack at creating a cool plugin for this software too.

Cheers!
V

laurent · 2023-11-21T00:28:46.631Z

You can't use relative paths but you could create a symlink on both computers that link to your OneDrive folder, making sure that the link is the same on both computers.

For example:

mklink /D D:/Data c:/path/on/computer1

mklink /D D:/Data c:/path/on/computer2

Then you'd create your links using the D:/Data path which will exist in both computers

xcever · 2023-11-21T00:33:54.041Z

Hi Laurent,

Thank you so much for your quick reply.
This sounds great! I'll need to read up a little bit more on how to do this exactly, but I'm sure I can figure it out!

Thanks for your help!

xcever · 2023-11-21T22:21:07.328Z

Based off of the answer from Laurent above.

So the solution for this when using windows:

Use command prompt (open as admin)
Type in:

mklink \j "C:\SymbolicDirectory" "C:\Users\...\OneDrive"

Match the symbolic directory on both computers and point the second directory to the OneDrive folder on the machine.

It only works if you copy (ALT+paste or ALT+drag) the file from the Symbolic directory.

Adding new files to the Symbolic directory will place them into the original directory, so you don't need to worry about data not ending in the correct place.

erikprzekop · 2024-02-15T14:41:58.335Z

What is "alt + paste"? Alt + ctrl + V doesn't do anything, nor can I hold down alt and click Edit | Paste from the menu. Can you please share what you meant by that? I want to do the same.