URLs

The URL component lets you reference an external link by key instead of hardcoding it. Each key maps to a URL per language, so a visitor always lands on the language-appropriate version of the destination, and a link that moves or breaks only needs fixing in one place, no matter how many docs reference it.

Managing URLs

You can edit the URLs collection in the CMS.

1. Click the Add icon ( + ) to add a new Key.
2. Under URL (per language), click the Add icon to add a Translation for each language the link should support. Give it a Language Code and the destination URL.
3. Under Default Link Text (per language), add a Translation for each language, giving the text a <Url> usage should show when it doesn't supply its own.

Using URLs

1. Select URL Link from the Embed list.
2. Enter the URL Key matching an entry in the URLs collection.
3. Optionally, add Link Text translations to override the key's default text for this specific usage — the same key can be used in different places with different wording.

Link text is not machine-translated

Unlike ordinary prose, a <Url> usage's Link Text is never sent through automated translation — the whole component is preserved exactly as written when a document is translated, in every language. If you add Link Text, fill in every supported language at the same time, in the document where you first add the link. A language left out at that point will stay missing until someone edits the source and adds it by hand.

If you don't need custom wording for a particular usage, leave Link Text empty and the key's Default Link Text is used instead — that text is translated the normal way, one time, in the URLs collection.

Example

URL NOT FOUND

Checking link health

The URLs collection also hosts the Link Health dashboard, which reports on both the URLs stored here and any external links still hardcoded directly in your docs — including which of those aren't in the URLs collection yet, so you can find and centralize them. See Dashboards for details.

Related topics

• Glossary terms – Localizable glossary terms with touch screen support.
• Variable sets – Localizable variables.
• Snippets – Reusable topics.
• Code blocks and snippets – Handling code blocks in docStatic.
• Conditional text – Filtering content with conditional text settings.
• Citations – Cite sources from a central CSL bibliography.
• Internationalization – Translating documents with docStatic.