I know how to get the path of the document, but I need to email the link to the document and open it in the browser. How do I do that? 

I didn't get what you are looking for " email the link to the document and open it in the browser"

Which document you are referring to and how will it open

can you please elaborate if possible with screenshot

I have something similar to an approval workflow. The manager needs to receive an email when a specific status is reached. If I use Encoded absolute URL, it will open the client application instead of in the browser. I need to open the document inside the browser.

To open document inside browser you need to have Office Web App deployed in farm. 

URL has a minor change, may be you can check the same when you try to open the same document online on your machine