Open .webloc files in Windows

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Level 1

45 points

Open .webloc files in Windows

I'm looking for a Windows program that I can associate with .webloc (Mac URL shortcuts) to open them in Windows (any web browser would be OK, ideally IE or Firefox). Files with the .webloc extension appear when I use Parallels (I share my Mac desktop with Parallels) or when I attach a .webloc file in an email to a Windows user (sometimes easier than pasting the full URL). Any suggestions?

IE and Firefox display HTML source which is at least more graceful than Safari for Windows, which says "can't open".

I'm using latest builds of Leopard and Parallels.

Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on May 20, 2008 4:59 PM

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Answer 1

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coder

Level 1

52 points

Jul 24, 2008 11:45 AM in response to seanfitz

looking for the same thing..

I was working at home and I was in "research" mode and collected about 50 nice bookmarks on my mac at home. Thought no big deal right?

but now moving them to my work PC..they dont work..

unbeleivable, so I "should have" used a PC to bookmark so it would work anywhere...

Now i have to go, open each bookmark on my mac and cut n paste the url to a text file and move to my PC..

WOW

Please if anyone knows a util that simple turns the .WEBLOC to normal URL's..

thank you

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Answer 2

seanfitz Author

Level 1

45 points

May 22, 2008 9:59 AM in response to seanfitz

Let me simplify my question: how do I open .webloc files (Mac bookmarks) in Windows?

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Answer 3

May 22, 2008 12:39 PM in response to seanfitz

Remember... Google is your friend. Search for *.webloc files windows* and you'll find a few ways.

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Answer 4

seanfitz Author

Level 1

45 points

May 22, 2008 1:46 PM in response to Templeton Peck

Google is indeed my friend and yes I did a search before posting...I am looking for a way to OPEN .webloc files, not to convert them to .url files. One page suggested installing Safari for Windows but that does not work either, ironically enough.

I am going back and forth between Mac and WinXP all day (testing browser compatibilities) and it would be a blessing to my workflow if I could double-click a .webloc file in Windows to open it in SOMETHING.

The best info I found was here:
http://www.mail-archive.com/camino@mozdev.org/msg04084.html
This tells me that prior to 10.4, .webloc files stored the URL in the resource fork which required a converter to .url to get them to work in Windows. In 10.4 and 10.5, the .webloc format stores the URL in the data fork and so it should be trivial to open them correctly. Indeed, Firefox and IE display a "page source" style page that shows the URL. Safari for Win breaks.

I would think there is a shareware or freeware program somewhere in the universe that would allow me to, at a minimum, associate it with .webloc file extension in Windows, but I am not familiar with it.

Any other suggestions?

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