diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/__init__.py b/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/__init__.py
index c20fcc1471..20b6e60f93 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/__init__.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/__init__.py
@@ -7,3 +7,23 @@ def get_current_book_data(set_val=False):
     if set_val is not False:
         setattr(get_current_book_data, 'ans', set_val)
     return getattr(get_current_book_data, 'ans', {})
+
+
+def link_prefix_for_location_links(add_open_at=True):
+    cbd = get_current_book_data()
+    link_prefix = library_id = None
+    if 'calibre_library_id' in cbd:
+        library_id = cbd['calibre_library_id']
+        book_id = cbd['calibre_book_id']
+        book_fmt = cbd['calibre_book_fmt']
+    elif cbd.get('book_library_details'):
+        bld = cbd['book_library_details']
+        book_id = bld['book_id']
+        book_fmt = bld['fmt'].upper()
+        library_id = bld['library_id']
+    if library_id:
+        library_id = '_hex_-' + library_id.encode('utf-8').hex()
+        link_prefix = f'calibre://view-book/{library_id}/{book_id}/{book_fmt}'
+        if add_open_at:
+            link_prefix += '?open_at='
+    return link_prefix
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/highlights.py b/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/highlights.py
index 9350f594f4..d7df480e1c 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/highlights.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/highlights.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ from calibre.gui2.dialogs.confirm_delete import confirm
 from calibre.gui2.library.annotations import (
     Details, Export as ExportBase, render_highlight_as_text, render_notes
 )
-from calibre.gui2.viewer import get_current_book_data
+from calibre.gui2.viewer import link_prefix_for_location_links
 from calibre.gui2.viewer.config import vprefs
 from calibre.gui2.viewer.search import SearchInput
 from calibre.gui2.viewer.shortcuts import get_shortcut_for, index_to_key_sequence
@@ -131,20 +131,6 @@ class Export(ExportBase):
         return _('highlights')
 
     def exported_data(self):
-        cbd = get_current_book_data()
-        link_prefix = library_id = None
-        if 'calibre_library_id' in cbd:
-            library_id = cbd['calibre_library_id']
-            book_id = cbd['calibre_book_id']
-            book_fmt = cbd['calibre_book_fmt']
-        elif cbd.get('book_library_details'):
-            bld = cbd['book_library_details']
-            book_id = bld['book_id']
-            book_fmt = bld['fmt'].upper()
-            library_id = bld['library_id']
-        if library_id:
-            library_id = '_hex_-' + library_id.encode('utf-8').hex()
-            link_prefix = f'calibre://view-book/{library_id}/{book_id}/{book_fmt}?open_at='
         fmt = self.export_format.currentData()
         if fmt == 'calibre_highlights':
             return json.dumps({
@@ -154,6 +140,7 @@ class Export(ExportBase):
             }, ensure_ascii=False, sort_keys=True, indent=2)
         lines = []
         as_markdown = fmt == 'md'
+        link_prefix = link_prefix_for_location_links()
         for hl in self.annotations:
             render_highlight_as_text(hl, lines, as_markdown=as_markdown, link_prefix=link_prefix)
         return '\n'.join(lines).strip()
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/web_view.py b/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/web_view.py
index 0409213f98..c373340d9d 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/web_view.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/web_view.py
@@ -8,12 +8,16 @@ import shutil
 import sys
 from itertools import count
 from PyQt5.Qt import (
-    QT_VERSION, QApplication, QBuffer, QByteArray, QFontDatabase, QFontInfo, QPalette, QEvent,
-    QHBoxLayout, QMimeData, QSize, Qt, QTimer, QUrl, QWidget, pyqtSignal, QIODevice, QLocale
+    QT_VERSION, QApplication, QBuffer, QByteArray, QEvent, QFontDatabase, QFontInfo,
+    QHBoxLayout, QIODevice, QLocale, QMimeData, QPalette, QSize, Qt, QTimer, QUrl,
+    QWidget, pyqtSignal
+)
+from PyQt5.QtWebEngineCore import (
+    QWebEngineUrlRequestInfo, QWebEngineUrlRequestJob, QWebEngineUrlSchemeHandler
 )
-from PyQt5.QtWebEngineCore import QWebEngineUrlSchemeHandler, QWebEngineUrlRequestJob, QWebEngineUrlRequestInfo
 from PyQt5.QtWebEngineWidgets import (
-    QWebEnginePage, QWebEngineProfile, QWebEngineScript, QWebEngineView, QWebEngineSettings
+    QWebEnginePage, QWebEngineProfile, QWebEngineScript, QWebEngineSettings,
+    QWebEngineView
 )
 
 from calibre import as_unicode, prints
@@ -24,6 +28,7 @@ from calibre.constants import (
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata.book.base import field_metadata
 from calibre.ebooks.oeb.polish.utils import guess_type
 from calibre.gui2 import choose_images, error_dialog, safe_open_url
+from calibre.gui2.viewer import link_prefix_for_location_links
 from calibre.gui2.viewer.config import viewer_config_dir, vprefs
 from calibre.gui2.viewer.tts import TTS
 from calibre.gui2.webengine import (
@@ -621,11 +626,7 @@ class WebView(RestartingWebEngineView):
 
     def start_book_load(self, initial_position=None, highlights=None, current_book_data=None):
         key = (set_book_path.path,)
-        cbd = current_book_data or {}
-        book_url = None
-        if 'calibre_library_id' in cbd:
-            lid = cbd['calibre_library_id'].encode('utf-8').hex()
-            book_url = f'calibre://view-book/_hex_-{lid}/{cbd["calibre_book_id"]}/{cbd["calibre_book_fmt"]}'
+        book_url = link_prefix_for_location_links(add_open_at=False)
         self.execute_when_ready('start_book_load', key, initial_position, set_book_path.pathtoebook, highlights or [], book_url)
 
     def execute_when_ready(self, action, *args):