Contributors > Create Links

1. Open the element you want to edit.
   
2. Highlight with your cursor all of the text from which to link.
   
3. Click the 'Insert Link' button on the tool bar.
   
4. A new page will appear:
   

• No Link – appears by default for unlinked text. You can use this to unlink items.
  

  TIP: External Website Links
  

  Many external sites have registered links in the CMS system, such as nola.com. The benefit of registering a link is that if the URL ever changes, the update is pushed to all the subsites that link to that URL.
  

  1. Check if a commonly used external link is already in the system.
  2. If you plan to use a link in several places, register the external page.
     
  
  
• Link to Existing Page, Uploaded Document or URL –  links to another Web page.
• Link to New Page From Template – links to a page that does not exist yet. 
  
• Link to New Uploaded File – links to a document uploaded from your computer (e.g., PDF, Word, PowerPoint or Excel).
• Link to Image – links to an image.
  
  
• E-mail Link – links that will open a user's e-mail client and fill in the desired recipient's e-mail address.

• Open in a New Window Option – e-mail links already open a new window, but the other page link options can be set to open in a new window with selected properties. We suggest you leave all the default property, except you might want to change to width from 500 to about 800, in order to accommodate a larger view of the website to which you are linking.
  
  
• At this time, linking to "Scheduled Element" and "Pop-Up Menu" is not available.
  

5. Select your option and then click the 'Next' button.
   

Existing Page, Uploaded Document or URL

You are presented with two options (1) CommonSpot... or (2) External URL... link:

CommonSpot.., the first one refers to any Web page in the CommonSpot system,  any uploaded document or previously registered URL.

1. If you know where the file is located click the 'Page Gallery 'button.
   
2. In the Page Gallery box, three areas appear:
   

• Subsite – By default it shows the directory of the current page. Scroll the menu to select another site. The menu shows the directory structure, with each subsite indented slightly. If you don't know the specific subsite folder,  select a higher-level site and check the box for 'Include subsites'
  
  If you change the folder, click the 'Update Results' button.
  

• Category – By default, it shows 'My Documents' which are the files that you have created in the subsite folder. To see all the files in the category, choose 'All Categories' immediately above 'My Documents.'
  
  If you change the category, click the 'Update Results' button.
  

• Documents – Select the document that you want to link, then click the 'OK' button.
  

3. Click the 'Finish' button to complete the linking process.
   

External URL... is a site in the university not in the CommonSpot system.

1. Select the button next to the 'External URL' and in the box
   
2. Paste or type in the full website address of the page, http://www.tulane.edu. If you paste it in, be sure there are no extra spaces at the end.
   
3. Click the 'Finish' button to complete the linking process.

Relative Internal URL... this field also is useful for adding CommonSpot URLs that have anchors, e.g., http://tulane/about#history.

Link to New Page From Template

1. Select this option and the click next. You will see a Create Page menu box. Follow the instructions to create a page to set the metadata.
   
2. A link in your current document will be generated to the new blank page. Finish your work on the current page, and then you may go work on the newly created page.
   

Link to New Uploaded File

1. Select this option and the click 'Next.'
   
2. Click the 'Browse' button to find the file on your computer.
   
3. Enter the metadata information about the file and then click 'Next' to finish.
   

Link to Image

1. Select this option and the click 'Next.'
   
2. Click the 'Gallery' button to find an image already saved in CommonSpot's Image Gallery or select 'New' to add a new image.
   
3. Enter the information about the image and then click 'Finish.'
   

E-mail Link

1. After selecting the "E-mail Link" button, type or paste in the recipient's e-mail address.
   
2. Click 'Finish.'