What is a "relative" link?

What is a "relative" link?

What is a "relative" link?

Modified on: Fri, 13 Mar, 2026 at 4:06 PM

A relative link is a link that contains only the information needed to navigate from the location of the parent file to the location of the child file.

Relative links rely on the fact that the operating system and application already know where the parent file is located. Because of this, the link only needs to store the child file’s location relative to the parent file, rather than the full path.

This relative path may include moving up or down the folder structure, and it always includes the name of the child file.

Example

If a parent file located in C:\MainFolder links to a child file in C:\MainFolder\SubFolder\Filename.doc, the full file path would normally be:

C:\MainFolder\SubFolder\Filename.doc

Using a relative link, the file specification could instead be written as:

.\SubFolder\Filename.doc

or simply:

SubFolder\Filename.doc

If the parent file is located in the same folder as the child file, the relative path would only need the file name:

Filename.doc

LinkFixer Advanced allows you to convert links to their relative format in bulk using the Modify Links process.
The “Force links relative” option updates the link so that it points to the child file using its relative location with respect to the parent file, rather than a full absolute path.