Applescript File vs Alias I have these two Applescript commands in which they both point to the same file

alias "Macintosh HD:Users:scott:Dropbox:Downloads:AppleScriptFinderGuide.pdf"
file  "Macintosh HD:Users:scott:Dropbox:Downloads:AppleScriptFinderGuide.pdf"


The alias command works just fine.  However the file command does not as it reports this error:  "Can’t get file "Macintosh HD:Users:scott:Dropbox:Downloads:AppleScriptFinderGuide.pdf"."

Any idea why the file command fails?

Thanks in advance, Scott
You are not referencing the file correctly.

Try

tell application "Finder" to set myFile to file "Macintosh HD:Users:scott:Dropbox:Downloads:AppleScriptFinderGuide.pdf"