diff --git a/kate/katequickopen.cpp b/kate/katequickopen.cpp
--- a/kate/katequickopen.cpp
+++ b/kate/katequickopen.cpp
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@
 void KateQuickOpen::slotReturnPressed()
 {
     const auto index = m_listView->model()->index(m_listView->currentIndex().row(), KateQuickOpenModel::Columns::FilePath);
-    auto url = QUrl(index.data(Qt::DisplayRole).toString());
+    auto url = index.data(Qt::UserRole).toUrl();
     m_mainWindow->wrapper()->openUrl(url);
     m_mainWindow->slotWindowActivated();
     m_inputLine->clear();
diff --git a/kate/katequickopenmodel.h b/kate/katequickopenmodel.h
--- a/kate/katequickopenmodel.h
+++ b/kate/katequickopenmodel.h
@@ -28,9 +28,10 @@
 #include "katemainwindow.h"
 
 struct ModelEntry {
-    QString fileName;
-    QString filePath;
-    bool bold;
+    QUrl url; // used for actually opening a selected file (local or remote)
+    QString fileName; // display string for left column
+    QString filePath; // display string for right column
+    bool bold; // format line in bold text or not
 };
 
 class KateQuickOpenModel : public QAbstractTableModel {
diff --git a/kate/katequickopenmodel.cpp b/kate/katequickopenmodel.cpp
--- a/kate/katequickopenmodel.cpp
+++ b/kate/katequickopenmodel.cpp
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
         return {};
     }
 
-    if (role != Qt::DisplayRole && role != Qt::FontRole) {
+    if (role != Qt::DisplayRole && role != Qt::FontRole && role != Qt::UserRole) {
         return {};
     }
 
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@
             font.setBold(true);
             return font;
         }
+    } else if (role == Qt::UserRole) {
+        return entry.url;
     }
 
     return {};
@@ -84,21 +86,21 @@
 
     for (auto *view : qAsConst(sortedViews)) {
         auto doc = view->document();
-        allDocuments.push_back({ doc->documentName(), doc->url().toDisplayString(QUrl::NormalizePathSegments | QUrl::PreferLocalFile), false });
+        allDocuments.push_back({ doc->url(), doc->documentName(), doc->url().toDisplayString(QUrl::NormalizePathSegments | QUrl::PreferLocalFile), false });
     }
 
     QStringList openedUrls;
     openedUrls.reserve(openDocs.size());
     for (auto *doc : qAsConst(openDocs)) {
         const auto normalizedUrl = doc->url().toString(QUrl::NormalizePathSegments | QUrl::PreferLocalFile);
-        allDocuments.push_back({ doc->documentName(), normalizedUrl, false });
+        allDocuments.push_back({ doc->url(), doc->documentName(), normalizedUrl, false });
         openedUrls.push_back(normalizedUrl);
     }
 
     for (const auto& file : qAsConst(projectDocs)) {
         QFileInfo fi(file);
         // example of file: "/home/user/projects/myfile.txt" which is consistent with QUrl::toDisplayString(QUrl::PreferLocalFile)
-        allDocuments.push_back({ fi.fileName(), file, false });
+        allDocuments.push_back({ QUrl::fromLocalFile(fi.absoluteFilePath()), fi.fileName(), file, false });
     }
 
     /** Sort the arrays by filePath. */