permalink downloads

Hi, I’m having trouble linking to downloadable files.

I made a test permalink and set the URL to where the file is stored (var/www/clients/client12/web166/web/wp-content/uploads/file.zip) but when I click apply, go to the page with the permalink and click on the permalink I get “Oops! We cannot find the page you’re looking for.” What am I missing?

I’ve read through other tutorials that say you can just use “Add Media,” but some of the files are big or have an extension that’s blocked from using that method. It’d be cool just to have a link on a page where files with any extension, like .jar, would be able to be downloaded.