Linking to local folders in Salesforce records

Although we are now in the “Cloud Computing Era”, we still put most of our documents in a local folder. (Even if we are using cloud drives such as Dropbox, we will still enable local access in our local computers so it is easy to work with your computer) Therefore we will need the ability to link local folders to Salesforce records.

The solution in Salesforce is not perfect (I think), and the result varies depending on the browser you are using. To do this, you need the following:

1. A text field (call it “Folder Path” – {Folder_Path__c} )
2. A formula(text) field (call it “Local Folder”) with this syntax:

HYPERLINK(“file://”& Folder_Path__c ,”View”)

You then need to put the folder path into the Folder Path text field. To obtain the folder path, go to the folder in your local computer. Right click on the folder and choose folder info or properties. The local folder link should look something like this: “C://User/Document” for windows or “/Users/Dropbox/Personal” for Mac.

To visit the local folder, you will need to go to the “View” link, right click and select “Save Link As… “ (or “Copy Hyperlink” depending on whether you use Mac or Windows). Then paste the link in the browser URL box. This solution will work on network folders, dropbox folders, local folders etc… As long as the folders with proper folder path exist in your local computer. So it is quite useful when you use shared network folders in your company, you can put in the folder path of the network folder in the records in Salesforce and everyone in the company can access to the same folder on their computer directly.

If you are using Firefox, you will need to download a plugin for the browser to make it work. Take a look at this site: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Links_to_local_pages_don%27t_work

Depending on browser, the behaviour would be different:

Firefox

Chrome

Safari – the folder box will pop up

IE – I forgot

I swear I did this before, when you click on the View link, the folder box will pop up so you don’t have to do the stupid right click and paste the folder in the browser URL box. You will also be able to see a little folder icon beside the “View” link. I remember it is something to do with a plugin or something, however I forgot what exactly it is. It would be really great if someone can remind me what it is.

Some people might think the URL field in Salesforce objects will work, yet it doesn’t as Salesforce will automatically put in http:// in the front of the text no matter what you put in the ORL field. There is also no way of getting away from it. Formulas or workflows are not able to take the http:// away unfortunately. I remembered I spent a whole day trying to figure it out but I couldn’t… Anyway it is still a good lesson to learn.