Sharepoint 2007: Use the My Links to Manage Your Links

Problem: When using SharePoint, you are able to add links to a list of favorite links shown at the top of any SharePoint site (under the My Links button). Now you want to manage your links, grouping them in different groups, editing them, or deleting them when they are not required.

Solution: The My Links mechanism is a useful feature of the personal site. These links are stored in your personal site and are displayed to you in every SharePoint site, much like the Favorites mechanism in your browser.

To see the links in any SharePoint site, click the My Links link at the top of the screen (see Figure 1). Clicking this link opens a menu that shows the links, organized by groups.

Figure 1. Use the My Links link to see all your links organized by groups.

Add a Link

You can easily add a link to the My Links list. Click the My Links link at the top of the screen and select Add to My Links from the menu. Selecting this option opens an Add to My Links dialog, which is populated automatically with the details of the current site (see Figure 2). This dialog enables you to quickly create a link to the site you are currently viewing. If you want to create a link to another site, you can change the title and the address of the link in this dialog.

Figure 2. You can add links through the My Links link.

Also in this dialog, you can specify who can see the link (people who are looking at your personal site) and what group it should be categorized as. There is even an option to create a new group if you want to.

Edit a Link

To remove a link, click the My Links link at the top of the screen and select Manage Links. Selecting this option opens a page where you can manage your links (see Figure 3). To edit a specific one, select it using the check box and click the Edit Links button in the menu.

Figure 3. You can edit your links on this page.

Create Groups for Links

To create a new group for links, you can edit a link you want to belong to the new group, as shown previously. Alternatively, you can create a new link. In the dialog, select New Group under the Grouping section, and type the name of the group (see Figure 4). The link appears under the new group name in the My Links menu only if you have more than one group with links (see Figure 5).

Figure 4. You can enter a name for a group in this dialog.

Figure 5. The new group name appears in the My Links menu.

Remove a Link

To remove a link, click the My Links link at the top of the screen and select Manage Links. Selecting this option opens a page where you can manage your links. To delete a specific one, select it using the check box and click the Delete button in the menu bar.