Manage links
You can use links to organize objects that are related to each other in some way.
About links
Creating a link establishes an association between one object and another. You can link folders, custom objects, and documents, including workflows and searches, to one another. The versions referenced by the linked objects are static. When you link one object to another, the version of the linked object is specified at the time you create the link. If you check out and then check in a new version of either of the objects, the link does not update dynamically to point to the new version. Instead it points to the now superseded version.
NOTE Compound documents also use links to associate a parent document to child documents. Compound document links differ in that they define a hierarchical structure between documents, indicating their relationship to each other. See Manage compound documents for a complete discussion of compound documents.
Security
Links are separate objects with their own access rights. See Work with security for more information about security settings.
Link administration
Your site administrator controls various aspects related to links by setting site preferences. The administrator can set the following site preferences:
- Enable link objects. The administrator must enable links for your site. If links are not enabled, the related actions and views are not available to you. See Enable link objects for more information.
- Editable link classes. The administrator can create additional link classes for an object store and register the classes in the site preferences for the object store. The administrator can also restrict access to that class for specific actions, such as create, modify, and delete. See Editable link classes for more information.
Creating a link
The process of creating links and linking objects includes:
- Identifying the document from which you want to create a link.
- Assigning the class for the link object. The class you choose controls the properties assigned to the link.
See About properties and classes for more information on the relationship between classes and properties.
- Assigning the properties for the link you initially created, and then selecting the object to link to.
- Assigning security access for the new link. You define a specific set of users and permissions for the new link.
Modifying and deleting links
Once links are created, they can be modified and deleted, depending on your site preferences. The modification process involves changing the properties assigned to a link. Deleting a link is similar to deleting a document. The link associating one object to another is removed permanently.
Procedures for managing links
Linking action |
Procedure |
To view the links to an object |
- Open the information page for an object. To open the information page, select an object and click Get Info.
- Click Links to access the Links view. For more information about the Links view, see Links view.
- Click All Links or a specific link class to view a listing of objects that link to this object.
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To create a link |
- Find the object from which you want to create a link.
- Open the object's information page. To open the information page, select an object and click Get Info.
- From the Actions list, click Create Link. This starts the Create Link wizard.
- In the wizard, do the following steps:
- Specify a class. You must
use the special link class Related Items, or another class made available by your site administrator, if available. You cannot use the Link or the P8 AE Link classes.
- Select the object to link to. Click Link to or Select value to bring up the Select Object dialog box. See Select object for instructions on locating an object and selecting the appropriate version to link to.
- Specify the remaining link properties.
- Set the security for the link. See Set security permissions for further instructions about the security page.
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To modify link properties or security |
- View the links for the linked object. See To view the links to an object above.
- Click Link Info Page under the link you want to modify.
- To modify the linked object, click Link to or Change Value to bring up the Select Object dialog box. From there, you can remove the linked object or replace it with a different object. See Select object for instructions on locating an object and selecting the appropriate version to link to.
- Modify the link properties.
The type of property determines how it is edited:
- You can edit some properties directly; for others, you can click the property name to open a page for editing values.
- Click Expand Object Properties to view the details of an object value property. If no value is assigned to the object value property, the required class for the value is displayed.
- Modify the security for the link. For more information about specifying security settings, see Set security permissions .
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To delete a link object |
- View the links for one of the linked objects. See To view the links to an object above.
- Click Link Info Page under the link you want to delete.
- From the Actions list, click Delete.
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