diff --git a/src/terminal/view.rs b/src/terminal/view.rs
index ec72d4d3..6436f535 100644
--- a/src/terminal/view.rs
+++ b/src/terminal/view.rs
@@ -2943,7 +2943,10 @@ impl TerminalView {
     ) {
         log::warn!("failed to open file link {}: {reason}", path.display());
         let path = path.display().to_string();
-        let reason = reason.to_string();
+        // The log above keeps the exact error for whoever is debugging; the
+        // notification gets the sentence, because "os error 13" is not an
+        // answer to the question the reader actually has.
+        let reason = crate::ui::host_ops::explain_io(reason);
         window.push_notification(
             crate::ui::i18n::t_fmt(
                 crate::ui::i18n::L10nKey::LinkFileOpenFailed,
diff --git a/src/ui/code_editor.rs b/src/ui/code_editor.rs
index 086f45d8..ca5872de 100644
--- a/src/ui/code_editor.rs
+++ b/src/ui/code_editor.rs
@@ -494,7 +494,10 @@ impl Tty7App {
                     Err(e) => {
                         return Err(t_fmt(
                             L10nKey::EditorCantOpen,
-                            &[("path", &path.display().to_string()), ("e", &e.to_string())],
+                            &[
+                                ("path", &path.display().to_string()),
+                                ("e", &crate::ui::host_ops::explain_io(&e)),
+                            ],
                         ));
                     }
                 };
@@ -512,7 +515,10 @@ impl Tty7App {
                     Err(e) => {
                         return Err(t_fmt(
                             L10nKey::EditorCantRead,
-                            &[("path", &path.display().to_string()), ("e", &e.to_string())],
+                            &[
+                                ("path", &path.display().to_string()),
+                                ("e", &crate::ui::host_ops::explain_io(&e)),
+                            ],
                         ));
                     }
                 };
diff --git a/src/ui/file_tree.rs b/src/ui/file_tree.rs
index 07dcf014..9c48315e 100644
--- a/src/ui/file_tree.rs
+++ b/src/ui/file_tree.rs
@@ -1051,7 +1051,7 @@ impl Tty7App {
                             L10nKey::LinkFileOpenFailed,
                             &[
                                 ("path", &path.display().to_string()),
-                                ("error", &e.to_string()),
+                                ("error", &crate::ui::host_ops::explain_io(&e)),
                             ],
                         ),
                         cx,
diff --git a/src/ui/host_ops.rs b/src/ui/host_ops.rs
index 4e7e9082..f106315d 100644
--- a/src/ui/host_ops.rs
+++ b/src/ui/host_ops.rs
@@ -190,6 +190,15 @@ impl HostOps {
 /// rest. `Display` on an `io::Error` answers "what happened" for a developer
 /// reading a log; it does not answer "what now" for the person who just lost
 /// a save, and "Permission denied (os error 13)" is the shape of that gap.
+///
+/// This is the only way an `io::Error` should reach a person. Everything that
+/// goes through [`HostOps::notify_err`] gets it for free; the handful of
+/// places that build their own string have to ask. Opening a file used to
+/// print `os error 13` while saving the same file explained itself, because
+/// the save went through `notify_err` and the open did not.
+///
+/// The raw error still belongs in the log next to the call — the two readers
+/// want different things, so both are written rather than one chosen.
 pub fn explain_io(err: &std::io::Error) -> String {
     use std::io::ErrorKind;
     let key = match err.kind() {