How do I make an attached file display like a link?

Question

I'm embedding an external file in my pdf with \usepackage{attachfile2} and\textattachfile[color=1 1 1]{description}{file.pdf}. How can I make the text look the same as it would if I had used the hyperref package and done something like \hyperref{file.pdf}{description}? (By look the same, I mean black text, cyan border that disappears on printing, hand icon on mouse over, name of file in a box on hover (at least in acrobat/reader).)

Answer 1

I'd replace attachfile2 with a combination of embedfile and hypgotoe:

Instead of \textattachfile[color=0 0 0]{file.pdf}{description}, you'll have to use \embedfile{file.pdf}. This command does not create any visible entry, it just adds the file to the resulting PDF file (and Adobe Reader's attachment tab), so you can use the macro anywhere in your document.

In order to produce the clickable link, use the extended functionality of hypgotoe's \href command: To make "description" a link to the embedded file.pdf, the correct syntax is

\href{gotoe:embedded=file.pdf}{description}

(More information can be found in the hypgotoe manual.) The appearance of the links can be controlled with \hypersetup using the keys gotoecolor and gotoebordercolor.

A minimal example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{embedfile}
\usepackage{hypgotoe}
\embedfile{file.pdf}
\begin{document}
\href{gotoe:embedded=file.pdf}{description}
\end{document}

Note that this solution only works with pdf(la)tex and only for embedded PDF files.