Forum Discussion
Horrible sharing URLs in Sharepoint
StephenRice I was disappointed in your reply which, to me, reads like the ol' "its-a-feature-not-a-bug" approach. It doesn't seem to acknowledge the user's issue, at all. But there could be a disconnect on the nature of the URL issue.
Here is a URL structure that, I would think, leads a user down the "golden path": https://domain.com/top-level-directory/category/sub-category/tag/readable-file-name.
There's nothing special about the above. It's well-codified best practice in web-based information systems.
Here's what my Sharepoint URL's look like: https://subdomain.sharepoint.com/sites/SITENAME/pagename/Shared%20Documents/Forms/AllItems.aspx?viewpath=%2Fsites%2FSITENAME%2FPagename%2FShared%20Documents%2FForms%2FAllItems%2Easpx
(Interesting to see that this forum truncated the example URL because IT'S TOO LONG!)
Low-hanging fruit on this could be to implement some logic to strip out the spaces ('%2F'). This IS a usability issue.
https://contoso.sharepoint.com
/sites/sitename/libraryname/Forms/AllItems.aspx
?RootFolder=%2Fsites%2Fsitename%2Flibraryname%2Ffolder1%2Ffolder2&
FolderCTID=0x0120008BFB17F4669231438CF1367004A27203
But I've learned a trick! I can take the above and simplify it to:
https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/sitename/libraryname/folder1/folder2
How beautiful is that? And it works fine!
I just wish SharePoint was clever enough to keep such simple URLs in the address bar as you navigate around a site.
ralmin Why not consider
1. A tiny URL internal system. All these complexities could be hidden.
https://internal-tiny-url-mssharepoint.company/document-id
2. Minimalistic approach https://company/server/document-id
- Reducing the cognitive load increases productivity. The long URL may help the system to run efficiently, but not the individuals.
gcarbo JohnTM ralmin dbrogan955 jdee17
There is another way to copy direct link to documents which provides URL in standard format like:
https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/MySite/MyLibrary/MyDocument.docxReference: SharePoint Online: Copy direct link to document library files
Please click Mark as Best Response & Like if my post helped you to solve your issue. This will help others to find the correct solution easily. It also closes the item. If the post was useful in other ways, please consider giving it Like.
