# Force JabRef to write absolute file paths to bib-file

**URL:** <https://discourse.jabref.org/t/force-jabref-to-write-absolute-file-paths-to-bib-file/2069>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [May 5, 2020, 6:14am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/force-jabref-to-write-absolute-file-paths-to-bib-file/2069 "2020-05-05T06:14:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alltagsverstand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@alltagsverstand](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/alltagsverstand)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 6:14am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/force-jabref-to-write-absolute-file-paths-to-bib-file/2069/1 "2020-05-05T06:14:24Z")

</div>

Hey folks,  
I am using JabRef for many years now and want to thank everyone involved for creating a wonderful application! 🙂

However, I have a very urgent problem now (I have done hours of research in the documentation and the forum before, there are obviously a couple of people with the same problem but I couldn’t find any solution yet…).  
As far as I see, JabRef has recently changed its behaviour to writing _relative_ paths to .bib-file when linking pdfs - and there doesn’t seem to be any option anymore to change that behaviour!? This, however, makes JabRef kind of unusable for me now. That is because I am using JabRef in the first place for managing my references - but I am working with these references in other applications (means that e.g. I need to open the linked file attachment from within another application). This worked fine as long as JabRef either wrote the correct file path to the .bib-file _or_ I could force the other application to search for pdfs in a formerly defined default directory. In my current case, both options aren’t available.

Or do I miss anything? How can I force JabRef to write the absolute file path in my \*.bib?

Thanks for any help or suggestions!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rdiaz02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@rdiaz02](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/rdiaz02)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 4:09pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/force-jabref-to-write-absolute-file-paths-to-bib-file/2069/2 "2021-04-28T16:09:41Z")

</div>

Hi,

I need identical functionality. The following almost/kind of worked for me under Linux:

- Under “Options” → “Preferences” → “Linked files” set:
  - “Main file directory”: “/”
  - Unset “Search and store files relative to library file location”
  - “File directory pattern” to the full path. For instance /home/somebody/somedir/[bibtexkey]

The resulting bib removes the first “/” (using multiple `/` or escaping it with `\` did not work). It seems to work at least with helm-bibtex, but I would like, though, to have the full path, starting with “/”, since the lack of the first “/” prevents me from opening the PDF by directly from the bibtex file.