Links to external files break when the author is not the publisher

Before I start, check out this link to a Storyline project I created that illustrates the problem:
https://360.articulate.com/review/content/92a6cce9-5da1-46e6-80c5-b6a346be23b4/review
Password: PROBLEMS

The Situation

An author (call them Author1) creates a Storyline file. This file has some slides with triggers that open an external file stored on their local computer. Then, this author gets a new job and leaves the company.

Another person is hired to take over Author1's duties. We will call this person Publisher1 They open the file, finish working on it, and publish. They upload as normal to their LMS.

The Problem

Now, when the users access the published content, none of the triggers to those external files work. Why? Because they were local file paths on Author1's computer. Those file paths don't point to the file from Publisher1's computer.

The Current Workaround

The solution that is currently provided by Storyline is to add those files to the resources tab first, so they get copied into the Storyline file itself. Then, when you create a link on the slide trigger, you need to remember to type in story_content/external_files/MyFile.pdf. Worse, if you need to replace the file with another file that has a different filename, you need to remember to change it in TWO places (Resources and the triggers on the slides).

We Need a Better Solution

This is not an elegant or easy solution for many people. It is prone to typos and it is hard to remember the exact text you must type in each time. I'd expect it to work properly without having to remember this "one weird trick".

Has anyone found a better solution? There are discussions going back 9 years on this forum asking for a fix and as far as I can tell, it's still an issue. Here are some of them:

Relative File/URL Links | Articulate - Community
Broken links /path to external pdf-files | Articulate - Community
Resources and URLs | Articulate - Community

I work for a company with over 70,000 employees. We create hundreds of trainings each year. Some of them have over 100 slides. Doing this manually is not an option.

I wish the Media Library allowed us to add external files with the same method we use for audio and video files. Those files would be imported directly into the Storyline file and everything would be embedded/linked during publishing using relative file directory paths instead of fully resolved paths on the local computer doing the publishing. The Resources tab does this today, we just need to be able to do this without the "one weird trick" method. It should just work.