# Open .pdf, .txt, .docx, etc documents from a list of paths **URL:** \ **Category:** Dash Python\ **Created:** [August 3, 2023, 3:08am UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/open-pdf-txt-docx-etc-documents-from-a-list-of-paths/77400 "2023-08-03T03:08:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![williamwirono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9a28c/32.png) [@williamwirono](https://community.plotly.com/u/williamwirono)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2023, 3:08am UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/open-pdf-txt-docx-etc-documents-from-a-list-of-paths/77400/1 "2023-08-03T03:08:59Z")
I have a list of document paths listed in Dash. I want to make the document paths clickable so that users can open the documents by clicking the document paths. For instance, if the path is a .docx document, the user’s default .docx program should pop up. Is there a way to do this in Dash? I tried using dcc.Link with the href parameter as the filepath. I also tried using html.A with the href parameter and target=‘\_blank’. Both didn’t work unfortunately. I got the following error: react-dom@16.v2\_9\_3m1685119029.14.0.min.js:32 Uncaught DOMException: Failed to execute ‘pushState’ on ‘History’: A history state object with URL ‘file:///C://…’ cannot be created in a document with origin ‘[http://127.0.0.1:8080](http://127.0.0.1:8080)’ and URL ‘http:127.0.0.1:8080/’. Not sure if this is the right way to go or if there is a better route. Any help is greatly appreciated! ---
**Author:** ![jinnyzor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/community.plotly.com/jinnyzor/32/21194_2.png) [@jinnyzor](https://community.plotly.com/u/jinnyzor)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2023, 5:25pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/open-pdf-txt-docx-etc-documents-from-a-list-of-paths/77400/2 "2023-08-03T17:25:18Z")
Hello @williamwirono, I dont think that you can make it happen by default, it would have to be defaulted on each computer what to do with a downloaded document. You can allow a download of the object with a dcc.Download, other than that, typically controlling a computer from a browser is a no-no due to viruses/malware/etc. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![williamwirono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9a28c/32.png) [@williamwirono](https://community.plotly.com/u/williamwirono)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2023, 5:49pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/open-pdf-txt-docx-etc-documents-from-a-list-of-paths/77400/3 "2023-08-03T17:49:11Z")
@jinnyzor Hmm gotcha. I am a bit reluctant in making it as a download feature since the user has already had those files in their system. I just wanted to open the file in that path. But anyways, thanks for the input! If you think of something as you go, please do reach out! ---
**Author:** ![jinnyzor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/community.plotly.com/jinnyzor/32/21194_2.png) [@jinnyzor](https://community.plotly.com/u/jinnyzor)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2023, 5:54pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/open-pdf-txt-docx-etc-documents-from-a-list-of-paths/77400/4 "2023-08-03T17:54:53Z")
If the user already has the folder, you can hard code it. I believe the path for a file is something like: ```auto file:// ``` > ---
**Author:** ![williamwirono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9a28c/32.png) [@williamwirono](https://community.plotly.com/u/williamwirono)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 7:32pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/open-pdf-txt-docx-etc-documents-from-a-list-of-paths/77400/5 "2023-08-04T19:32:21Z")
@jinnyzor I tried this, and it gave me the following error in the Console: ‘Not allowed to load local resource.’ Has this got something to do with the browser’s security settings? ---
**Author:** ![williamwirono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9a28c/32.png) [@williamwirono](https://community.plotly.com/u/williamwirono)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 7:58pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/open-pdf-txt-docx-etc-documents-from-a-list-of-paths/77400/6 "2023-08-04T19:58:19Z")
Nevermind, got it to work in Chrome. You will need to install a Chrome Extension called ‘Enable local file links’ to allow links to local files that was disabled by Chrome by default. ---
**Author:** ![jinnyzor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/community.plotly.com/jinnyzor/32/21194_2.png) [@jinnyzor](https://community.plotly.com/u/jinnyzor)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 8:00pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/open-pdf-txt-docx-etc-documents-from-a-list-of-paths/77400/7 "2023-08-04T20:00:49Z")
I believe it is regularly disabled… I dont know if you could skirt around this with having an `onclick` function that forces the browser to open a new window at that location.