Link to network share in email?

Question

Assuming we are on the same network, is it possible to link to a Windows share through Gmail?

Something like \\Server\Folder\file.ext?

Is there a prefix for network paths, such as there is for web urls, ftp urls, email addresses (i.e., http://, ftp://, mailto:)?

Answer 1

You can use the file URI scheme (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_URI_scheme). In you example it would be:

file://Server/Folder/file.ext

It depends on the application if it makes text "click-able", but this will work for most email application (including Outlook)

Answer 2

The link won't work when clicked on in the browser, but the recipient can always copy paste is in an Explorer window.