Accessing media and pdf files stored in the subdirectory of TW folder in android

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#21

A quick search for “android chrome embed pdf” got me this link:

https://support.google.com/chrome/thread/68561173/android-chrome-browser-don-t-preview-pdf?hl=en

2 Likes
#22

I was not expecting chrome to open pdf. But what happened to Firefox. Is firefox behaving the same for others also. I wanted to know whether the firefox behaviour is a bug because the TW wasn’t working well in android firefox. I was wondering whether this was due to some plug ins installed in my wiki. Previously firefox used to work nicely with TW.

1 Like
#23

I don’t know if it will help in this case but it seems like it might. You can give “Open Link With” a try:

It helps me in a handful of corner cases where the browser (or the wrong browser) opens up by default.

/Mike

#24

I found a workaround using Kiwi browser. It allows chrome extensions like pdf viewer. This let’s you to see the embedded pdf within the tiddler.

1 Like
#25

I believe if you install a good PDF viewer app it will add viewers into at least the common browsers. I have not had problems viewing and embedding PDF in Chrome and FireFox. I am an enthusiastic user of the FoxIt PDF Reader.

#26

But we’re talking about Android here, where the mainline browsers shut down almost all extensions.

#27

Perhaps, but FoxIt reader has mobile apps as well. I would need to test different combinations to be sure.

However my point is typically if you want support for any particular file format, PDF included, you need to install that support on the device where you want that support, and good support integrates with the browser.

  • Many mobile devices I use, primarily Android, already handle PDF adequately, for me it is a “non issue”.
#28

I don’t know if it’s matter of the Firefox for Android version (2024, v. 126.0.1), but I’m viewing embedded PDFs in tiddlers just now (using the _canonical_uri + application/pdf type way, pointing to a path like “sub/sub/directory/file.pdf”).

I was using Tiddloid, where embedded PDF files doesn’t load, so I tried with RCX + Firefox and works like a charm, no additional extensions needed in the browser.

Notes:

  • In RCX + Firefox for Android + TW, tiddlers with PDF files embedded via iframe will freeze the tab where the TW it is being displayed.
  • I’ll keep Tiddloid for regular work in Android, and will use RCX when needed.
#29

Been a while, but I wanted to ask if you are still able to open files on Firefox? I cannot seem to do so.

It seems it no longer appears in the open with menu.

This remains the case if I sync the .html file to a local folder from a mount, and then ‘share’ to Firefox. It doesn’t navigate to the file at all.

#30

I found an old conversation and it seems the feature deliberately taken out to patch a security issue, and was ‘not planned’ as of 2022.

I’m still seeing reports on people discovering this every year though, up to 2025, and finding that Firefox for Android still can’t open local files.

#31

The new way to open/work on local TiddlyWikis in Firefox for Android is trough a local server. I’m using tw5server since 2024, no complains, except for the laborious initial setup, but it’s worth it.

It involves this general steps (no time to go deeper on each one):

  • Setup Termux with storage access.
  • Download tw5server and save it on the home path accessible by Termux, allowing execution.
  • Make an script for Termux in ~/.termux/widget/dynamic_shortcuts with content like this:
#!/bin/bash
./tw5server --autoclean -a:localhost -p:8000 -d:./storage/shared/path/to/your/local/tw/
  • Make the script executable.
  • Longpress the Termux launcher, pulse on the script and tw5server should start in Termux.
  • Open Firefox and go to localhost:8000, it will show the directory where your TiddlyWiki(s) are stored, pick one and it will open and be editable and savable.
  • You can save bookmarks for your wikis or chose from a lot of ways to access them like websites, but your wikis will stay local.