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I'm in a chatroom to discuss writing some wiki stuff for the stack and the person I'm working with asked me to write a draft and upload it to the chat. I wrote it, turned it into a PDF, and tried to upload.

enter image description here

Notice that even before I try to upload it, it says "C:" in front of the file name. That's a Windows thing! Or maybe Linux does it too, I don't know. But it's certainly not how my Mac names file paths.

Then notice how the pathway is relabeled "fakepath". That's obviously not coming from my end. The path ought to be Cyn/Writing/Articles.

I also tried to upload the Word version and got an identical error.

I finally gave up and put it on Dropbox instead. But what's the scoop here? Is this a problem with all Macs or what? My rep on Chat is 14k, so it's not that.

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  • 1
    You're not supposed to upload an pdf as that is not an image.
    – rene Mod
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 21:01
  • Okay, but I was told to upload a file with the text. And I got the weird path before I clicked on "upload."
    – Cyn
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 21:03
  • That path is by design. see: meta.stackexchange.com/search?q=fakepath
    – rene Mod
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 21:04
  • @rene Edited original to show results from testing a Word file (same).
    – Cyn
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 21:04
  • related: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/316662/…
    – rene Mod
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 21:05
  • I'm finding your link confusing @rene. It is for stacks, not chat; it says PDFs are supported (sometimes); it does not mention the redone path.
    – Cyn
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 21:06
  • PDFs ARE images.
    – Cyn
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 21:07
  • 4
    No, they are not, at least not by Imgur standards, which happens to be the service provider SE uses.
    – rene Mod
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 21:08
  • "The following file types are uploadable (as per the imgur FAQ): JPEG, GIF, PNG, APNG, TIFF, BMP, PDF, XCF (GIMP)." From a link within your link. tex.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2136/…
    – Cyn
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 21:09
  • see: tex.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3457/… from a comment on that post I linked
    – rene Mod
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 21:10
  • Seems to be an issue with Chrome from 8 years ago! Not sure why it hasn't been fixed. It has nothing to do with it being a PDF. meta.stackexchange.com/questions/68471/…
    – Cyn
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 21:24
  • If you say so. Let's wait then for an SE developer to confirm if uploading PDF's is still supported.
    – rene Mod
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 21:34
  • C:\fakepath is a standard: all compliant browsers must add that string before a filename, no matter what operating system you're using.
    – ArtOfCode
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 21:40
  • @Cyn that answer is from 2012, and Imgur has changed a lot since then. For one, the file limit is now 20MB, and PDFs are not supported. See the current FAQ help.imgur.com/hc/en-us/articles/…
    – TheWanderer
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 21:56
  • My point is that the fakepath thing is not related to the PDF. That appears to be the case. These are two separate issues. With 3rd issue being the really poor feedback to the user.
    – Cyn
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 22:07

1 Answer 1

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7

  1. PDFs are not images. Chat only allows you to upload images. You can't, therefore, upload a PDF directly to chat. Use an external hosting service, such as Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive instead, and share a link to it in chat.

  2. C:\fakepath is a browser standard. Browsers insert that string before the name of any file you upload, anywhere, because... it's a standard. Using the real file path would be a privacy risk; if the real path was Y:\Users\Rumplestiltskin\TopSuperSecretProject\VeryImportantDocument.pdf, then by uploading it you'd be exposing that your real name is Rumplestiltskin and you're working on TopSuperSecretProject.

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