diff --git a/apps/client/src/services/link.ts b/apps/client/src/services/link.ts
index 8a963768e5..3405161dd5 100644
--- a/apps/client/src/services/link.ts
+++ b/apps/client/src/services/link.ts
@@ -339,11 +339,24 @@ export function goToLinkExt(evt: MouseEvent | JQuery.ClickEvent | JQuery.MouseDo
                 // Enable protocols supported by CKEditor 5 to be clickable.
                 if (utils.isElectron()) {
                     const electron = utils.dynamicRequire("electron");
-                    electron.shell.openExternal(hrefLink).catch((e: unknown) => {
+                    const reportLinkError = (e: unknown) => {
                         const message = e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e);
                         logError(`Failed to open link '${hrefLink}': ${message}`);
                         showError(t("link.failed_to_open", { href: hrefLink, message }));
-                    });
+                    };
+
+                    if (hrefLink.toLowerCase().startsWith("file:")) {
+                        // shell.openExternal mishandles Unicode file:// URLs on Windows;
+                        // convert to a filesystem path and use shell.openPath instead.
+                        // Normalize file://c:/... (2 slashes — drive read as host) to file:///c:/...
+                        const normalized = hrefLink.replace(/^file:\/\/(?=[a-zA-Z]:)/i, "file:///");
+                        const { fileURLToPath } = utils.dynamicRequire("url");
+                        electron.shell.openPath(fileURLToPath(normalized)).then((err: string) => {
+                            if (err) reportLinkError(new Error(err));
+                        }).catch(reportLinkError);
+                    } else {
+                        electron.shell.openExternal(hrefLink).catch(reportLinkError);
+                    }
                 } else {
                     window.open(hrefLink, "_blank");
                 }
diff --git a/apps/client/src/services/utils.ts b/apps/client/src/services/utils.ts
index 67bbdd0e26..d484ba55ad 100644
--- a/apps/client/src/services/utils.ts
+++ b/apps/client/src/services/utils.ts
@@ -360,7 +360,8 @@ function copySelectionToClipboard() {
 type dynamicRequireMappings = {
     "@electron/remote": typeof import("@electron/remote"),
     "electron": typeof import("electron"),
-    "child_process": typeof import("child_process")
+    "child_process": typeof import("child_process"),
+    "url": typeof import("url")
 };
 
 export function dynamicRequire<T extends keyof dynamicRequireMappings>(moduleName: T): Awaited<dynamicRequireMappings[T]>{