How to open an Internet Shortcut File (.URL) in Safari on iPad

[ldeschenes]

I do save a lot of Internet Shortcut Files (URL file) on my Windows PC for future reference.
These are organized in Folders by subject together with other files (DOC, XLS, PDF, etc.)
All my data is store in the Cloud, used to be Dropbox, now OneDrive.

On the iPad, both Dropbox and OneDrive do reconized those as URL files and display file information but DO NOT OPEN SAFARI.

Is there a way to open these files in Safari? Is there an App that does that?

BTW both Dropbox and Onedrive support "Open in Another App" but Safari does not show in the list.
Is there an App that would do just that an show in Open in Another App?

Thanks. Louis

 

[ardchoille]

I'm a web developer and have been trying to do this for a year.. it's not currently possible with Safari.

I wonder if a 3rd-party web browser woujld be able to work with those "open as" prompts.

 

[ldeschenes]

@ardchoille

In fact, any iOS App is able to easily open an URL in Safari.
DrodBox or OneDrive could certainly do it. But it seems they have not realize that they could implement it (or it is not on their priority list).

It would require a 3rd party App that: 1) expose itself as been able to "Open in an other app" URL file 2) decrypt the URL file 3) launch Safari
Does such an App exist?

 

[ardchoille]

@ardchoille

In fact, any iOS App is able to easily open an URL in Safari.
DrodBox or OneDrive could certainly do it. But it seems they have not realize that they could implement it (or it is not on their priority list).

It would require a 3rd party App that: 1) expose itself as been able to "Open in an other app" URL file 2) decrypt the URL file 3) launch Safari
Does such an App exist?

As stated in the OP, Dropbox and OneDrive will open the file as a text file (displaying the html code) but will not open an html document as a web page.

 

[twerppoet]

I'm a bit confused.

Are you guys talking about HTML files, or URLs. Two completely different things. One is an actual file, the other is just an address to a place on the internet.

At any rate, I only know of two apps that will open and browse a local HTML file and/or set of HTML files in folders; though if one exists there are probably others. HTML Presenter is not my favorite app. I got it for some HTML book files I have, and it did them poorly. It doesn't play well with frames, or at least the older code that the books are made with. However it might work for you.

HTML files/sites must be zipped and placed in DropBox before you can load them into the app.

I'd search the store for alternatives with better track records for what you want, but if your are desperate give it a try. Just don't come after me if it doesn't work.


To be fair, HTML Presenter meant for the creation and presentation of offline web presentations. Presumably you would create and test these files yourself, not load in random files from the internet and see if they work. My evaluation is biased by my trying to do something the app developer never promised the app would do.


The second option is the iCab Mobile browser. If you have an HTML file downloaded in iCab Mobile browser, you can select and choose to display the file. I just tested this by going to my DropBox account in the browser, downloading an html file, and then displaying it.

Unlike HTML Presenter you can (probably) only do this with single uncompressed HTML files. Viewing and entire site this way would be difficult, at best.

 

[ldeschenes]

@ardchoille
@twerppoet

Thanks for your answers.

I am talking about URL file (*.url created with Internet Explorer) which is an address to a place on Internet.

Dropbox would display the text (and you could click on the "URL=http...." text to go to Safari) :
Onedrive display only a file description of it own, no text.
Neither Dropbox or Onedrive would give you an option to "Open in Safari".

I have switch to OneDrive (from Dropbox) to take advantage of Word and Excel functionnality on iPad.
Best solution would be that OneDrive developper include the feature of "Open in Safari".

In the interim my question is really if there is a 3rd party App that would open URL file, decrypt the address and launch Safari.

 

[Mickey330]

Take a look at this free app called "Webloc Tool" (link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/webloc-tool/id568835112?mt=8).

It's not perfect, but it'll allow you to use the "Open In" function in Dropbox to open the .url file in the Webloc Tool app. When the .url file opens, it opens by launching a browser within the app (with your web page loaded). From there, you can save the .url file in the app for later use/reference or you can launch the actual Safari app from within the Webloc Tool app.

So, if you just need to view the .url, it'll be good to use as it launches a browser for viewing.

It's the only thing I can find that might come close to what you want. Hope this helps.

Marilyn

 

[ldeschenes]

@Mickey330

Thanks a lot, Marilyn. Webloc Tool does the job!

It does excatly as you said:
1) appear in the "Open in Another App" in OneDrive (and DropBox)
2) open the web page inits own browser
3) has an action to "Open in Safari" if you want to do it

 

[Mickey330]

You're welcome. Glad it works for you.

Marilyn

 

[Fred Feuerstein]

I also have this problem that I can't open Windows internet shortcut files (*.url) in Safari on my ipad. I synchronise them with my PC using PDF Expert. I'm a teacher and use the iPad for all kinds of classroom presentations - and it would be extremely useful if I could also start my internet shortcuts there, ideally from PDF Expert.

I was glad to find a solution to this problem in this forum until I noticed that Webloc Tool is no longer supported by iOS11 and above.

Does anybody know a different app that helps to open a *.url file in Safari? Or would a different browser do the trick? (Firefox and Chrome apparently don't).

Thanks, Fred

 

[twerppoet]

I’m not sure what functionality a URL file provides over a link, but if it is only extracting the link from the file and opening it in Safari, there is probably a way to do it using the Shortcuts app.

I was going to experiment with it, but can’t find any sample .url files to work with. I might be able to generate my own later. I do have one Windows computer available, but I rarely use it for anything other than amateur radio, so it will take some learning.

 

[twerppoet]

I did finally manage to create some .url files using my Windows machine. I had no luck getting them to work on the iPad, even using Shortcuts. However, I did gain an understanding of what the files do. They are just desktop shortcuts for web browsing.

You can create similar icons/shortcuts on the iPad in Safari itself. Choose the Share icon at the top right (box with and up arrow) and tap Add to Home Screen. If the site has an icon resource or favicon, that will be used as the icon image, otherwise you’ll get a thumbnail of the site.You can rename the icon before saving.

Icons created this way can be moved and placed in folder just like any other home screen icon.

You’ll have to manually re-create your collection this way, but you’d have something similar to what you are used to on Windows.

A somewhat more versatile method might be to use Notes. You can create rich links in notes by dragging the Safari URL or a link into a note while in split view. Later you can open the note in slide over with Safari open. That way you can slide the note over, tap on a link to open it in a new Safari tab, then slide it back out of the way for a full page view.

This would also let you organize your links by topics inside the note using headers and explanatory text; even creating different folders if you need to keep a lot of different subjects organized.

There are probably better ways to achieve your goals, but this is all I can come up with for now.

 

[Fred Feuerstein]

Thanks for these tips, Twerppoet, and all the effort you put into answering my query.

I already had the feeling that it would be difficult to get these shortcuts started directly on the iPad (they do work on an iMac, though). But it would be good if I had a chance to access them directly without doing any extra transformation work on the iPad.

But I found out a three-step method: I can copy the url file into my dropbox, save it there and can then open it in Safari. Is there a way of getting this done automatically with the Shortcuts app?

Thanks for your help!
Fred

 

[twerppoet]

Thanks for these tips, Twerppoet, and all the effort you put into answering my query.

I already had the feeling that it would be difficult to get these shortcuts started directly on the iPad (they do work on an iMac, though). But it would be good if I had a chance to access them directly without doing any extra transformation work on the iPad.

But I found out a three-step method: I can copy the url file into my dropbox, save it there and can then open it in Safari. Is there a way of getting this done automatically with the Shortcuts app?

Thanks for your help!
Fred

Not that I could find. Because you mentioned Dropbox before, that’s where I did most of my experiments. It’s not a problem grabbing the file from Dropbox, but there is no way to extract the URL from the file. That means the only way to use the file is to open it in another app. None of the browsers I have recognized the file: Safari, Chrome, iCab Mobile.

I saw that the Dropbox app itself exposes the URL. You could probably use a shortcut from the Dropbox app to open the link, but that would actually be slower than just tapping on it and choosing to open it in Safari.