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tangential: Android display of images linked in HTML local file

  • Subject: tangential: Android display of images linked in HTML local file
  • From: Nash JC - NCF <nashjc [ at ] ncf [ dot ] ca>
  • Date: Fri, 3 Jul 2026 14:35:21 -0400
Recently I discovered that HTML files downloaded (i.e., stored locally) to a tablet or phone are difficult
to display. This is "well known", but I found a lot of the suggested "solutions" did not function well.
I have over many years created web pages to present pictures or documents in an orderly way for others,
and opening the HTML file in practically any browser is effective for this. Not on Android -- the
makers seem to want you to put your file on their server, no doubt to mine the content.

Some web pages said only files in Internal Storage / Download  (NOT the default "Downloads" which it
seems is a pseudo folder) can be accessed by file manager(s). Hence I put my html file and related
images in a folder there. Call it MyDisplay -- it was my wife's summary of a trip to Egypt.
After the tests below, I tried copying the file and images in a folder together to a different
directory (in face "Movies") and could open the HTML from there, so this advice seems incorrect.

Trying to open this with various browsers was quite frustrating. The best I managed was to show
the html file with blue links that would then give "Your file couldn't be accessed -- it may have
been moved, edited or deleted". This was NOT true. From Google Files (their Android default file
manager) these could be opened fine.

Some pages suggested installing a web server. I tried a couple, but this proved an exercise in
frustration, since I had to open stuff, find a messy IPv4 address, enter it and add the file
name. And then it still complained!

Others said to use a programming editor with preview. This did work after a bit. The suggested
apps are QuickEdit and TotalCommander. They don't always follow the same route to display the
file, but eventually one is offered a preview. Choose "File Viewer" not "HTML viewer". Go figure!
It seems "File Viewer" is an app that got loaded alongside another app (I think Total Commander).
I found that I can open this app directly and select the html file, which is perhaps the simplest
choice. Double clicking on the filename in Google Files sometimes pops up a selection list in which
most apps don't work, but File Viewer is often one of them.

This isn't the most encouraging result, but it does mean the tablet can be used to show presentations
that are in HTML if one is prepared to use unorthodox command choices. On other platforms, opening a
file in a browser is simple and effective.

John Nash



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