Using Link Annotations & Document Links

Link Annotations and Document Links allow you to link to specific content within other documents, to your current document, to other complete documents, or to permalinks. In Annotate mode, Link Annotations are visible within the content of a document in the form of a small link icon and a shaded link area. Click the link icon to view the details. You can also view link annotations in View mode. Document Links are visible in the Doc Info fields panel. This feature must be enabled by an Admin.

When you enter Annotate mode, you can toggle between cursor modes to create text and image annotations, line annotations, and links. In link annotation mode, represented by the link icon, clicking on the document creates a link annotation.

To create a link annotation:

  1. From the Doc Info page, click the View annotations button to enter Annotate mode.
  2. Click Select annotation tool and select the link cursor mode.
  3. Optional: Choose the type of link to create from the drop-down to the right of cursor mode icons. The Document option creates standard link annotations. The Permalink option lets you create links to permalinks that persist throughout document versions. This option may have a different label depending on your Vault’s configuration.
  4. Select the area, image, or text for which you are creating a link.
  5. In the Select anchors dialog, find the link’s target documents. You can select a different standard view, search using the search bar and scope options, and apply various filters to the document search.
  6. To use existing anchors, find them in the dialog and click the plus (+) icon. You can also click Select or create new anchor in this document to open a mini-browser and select an existing anchor by clicking the plus (+) icon on the anchor’s info card.
  7. To create a new anchor, click Select or create new anchor in this document. Clicking this link opens the document in a new window. Make sure this window is closed before you close the Select anchors dialog.
  8. To link to a whole document, click the plus (+) icon next to the document state.
  9. When you finish adding anchors, click Close.
  10. Optional: From the related note, click the ellipsis icon to add a note, user mention, or tags to the link annotation.

You can create links to CrossLink documents only when the target Crosslink is bound to a specific version and it has a viewable rendition for which you have View Content permission.

You cannot create links to CrossLink documents that use dynamic binding (Latest Steady State Version). Those documents will not appear in the Select anchors dialog.

How to Create Anchors

You can create new anchors while creating new links or editing existing links. These anchors are available for use in any future links and remain even if the original link is deleted. To create a new anchor:

  1. Open the Select anchors dialog. This dialog opens when you create a new link or click the link icon from an existing link annotation note.
  2. Find the target document using filters, views, and search terms as needed.
  3. Click Create new anchor in this document on the target document. The target document opens in a mini-browser window. Make sure this window is closed before you close the Select anchors dialog.
  4. Within the target document, select text or an area as the anchor location.
  5. Enter an Anchor Name, up to 140 characters. This name and the selected text identify the anchor in the Select anchors dialog.
  6. Click Save.

Alternatively, you can create anchors using the Create Anchor tool:

  1. Click View annotations to enter Annotate mode.
  2. Click Select annotation tool and select Anchors to enable the anchor cursor mode.
  3. Select the text, area, or image where you want to create an anchor.
  4. Enter an anchor name and click Save.

This creates a new, unused anchor available for selection in the Select anchors dialog.

About the Anchor Icon

In target documents, links to anchors appear in the document viewer with a small arrow to indicate that they are incoming, rather than outgoing. You can display or hide links to anchors from the Filter menu in the document viewer.

Anchors from Previous Versions

When creating links before the Enhanced Document Links & Anchors feature, users created a new anchor for each link, resulting in some documents cluttered with redundant anchors. These anchors cannot be reused until you convert them by adding an anchor name. Admins can also clean up redundant anchors, including anchors without names, by merging them.

Anchors in the Same Document

When creating link annotations, you can use the Select anchors dialog to select existing anchors or create new anchors within your current document. Clicking a link with an anchor in the same document refreshes the browser and navigates you to the anchor. You can also view and select links to anchors within your current document in the Linked Documents panel. Vault adds links to anchors in the same document to the audit trail and Where Used view.

When enabled, you can link to a whole document as opposed to anchors within a document. While you can create links to anchors elsewhere within your current document and version, Vault prevents you from creating whole-document links to the current document version.

To link to a document, click the plus (+) icon next to the document state in the Select anchors dialog. Note that the corresponding plus (+) icon for the current document version is disabled in the dialog. If the dialog displays a minus (–) icon, the document is already linked. Click the minus (–) icon to unlink the document. You can also link to binders, video files, and documents without viewable renditions.

When enabled, you can create links to permalinks that always direct users to the latest version of the target document. Vault checks for and updates the link each time the Doc Info page loads. You can create link annotations to document, document page, bookmark, and destination permalinks. To create a link annotation to a permalink:

  1. Click View annotations.
  2. Click Select annotation tool and select Link.
  3. Click Select link type and select the Permalink option from the drop-down.
  4. Select the area, image, or text for which you are creating a link.
  5. In the Select target dialog, find the link’s target documents. You can select a different standard view, search using the search bar and scope options, and apply various filters to the document search.
  6. To create a permalink to a document, click the plus (+) icon next to the document state.
  7. To create a permalink to a bookmark, a destination, or a specific document page, click Select or create permalink in this document. The mini-browser window opens with the Bookmarks panel expanded. Click the plus (+) icon next to the bookmarks that you want to use as link targets. You can select link targets in the Destinations panel. To create a permalink to a specific document page, use the arrows to navigate to the page or enter the correct page number at the top of the window and click the plus (+) icon. Exit the mini-browser when complete.
  8. Optional: Continue adding permalink targets for the new link annotation.
  9. Click Close to exit the Select target dialog.
  10. Vault creates link annotations and adds links to permalinks to the audit trail and the Where Used view, including the version of the referenced document at the time the link was created.

Note that Vault doesn’t display all existing permalinks in the Select target dialog. Existing permalinks only appear beneath documents in the Select target dialog if that permalink is already selected for the current annotation.

In the annotation info card and the Linked Documents section, Vault displays different icons for different types of permalinks. Permalinks to specific document pages or bookmarks also include the page number.

In the Linked Documents section, linked document relationships that are created by permalinks do not display a version number. If the same document is referenced by both a permalink and a link to a document version or an anchor, Vault lists the document twice because the relationship for the document or anchor link is version-specific.

In the Linked Documents section, you can use the Link to Content option on existing version-specific or versionless relationships to:

  • Add version-specific links to existing permalink annotations
  • Add permalinks to existing version-specific link annotations

Selecting the Add link to note option in a permalink annotation’s info card only allows you to select additional permalink targets. If you want to change the link annotation type, for example, from a document link annotation to a permalink annotation, delete the existing annotation and create a new one.

When enabled, you can display link annotations in View mode as shaded linked annotation placemarks on the document. Click the View annotations button in the document viewer to toggle the link annotation view on or off.

Clicking a link annotation in View mode navigates you to the anchor or target document in a new mini-browser window. If there are multiple targets, the link navigates you to the first in the list.

When you click another link annotation in the document, the current mini-browser window refreshes to display the new anchor or target document.

How to View Linked Documents

Within each link, there may be many anchors. To open a linked document, expand the anchor description by clicking the name of the target document. Then, click either the anchor name (to open in the same browser window) or the View Document pop-out icon (to open in a new pop-up browser window).

You can find the list of documents related by links (relationship portion of a document link) in the Linked Documents section of the Doc Info fields panel. This section appears whether there are existing linked document relationships or not. Click on a document name to open the related document.

You can create new Document Links from the Doc Info fields panel. You can select links to anchors or target documents without creating a link annotation first. This option is not available for permalinks.

  1. Navigate to the Doc Info page in either Mixed View or Fields View.
  2. Click the plus (+) icon in the Linked Documents section.
  3. The Select anchors dialog opens. Select one or more anchors or target documents.
  4. After selecting an anchor or target document, the new relationship exists, and the associated link appears under Linked Documents.

Linked Documents Panel

Links to anchors have anchor icons, and links to documents have document icons. Links used by link annotations have green icons. Links that are not in use have grey icons.

Each link has an Actions menu in the Linked Documents section. The following actions are available for each link:

  • Link to Content: Create a link annotation or associate to an existing link annotation. This action is only available when the current document has a viewable rendition.
  • View in Mini-Browser: View the target document or anchor in a mini-browser.
  • Remove Link: Remove the link to anchor or target document from the relationship. Removing all links to anchors and target documents also removes the Linked Document relationship. This option is not available for permalinks.

To import Linked Document relationships from other documents (within the same Vault):

  1. In the Doc Info page, select Import Document Links from the Actions menu.
  2. Select the document from which to import the document links in the Import from Selected Document dialog.
  3. Click Confirm.
  4. A confirmation dialog opens. Click Yes.

All linked documents from the selected document will appear in the Linked Documents section.

Note that you will only see documents in the Import Document Links dialog when:

  • You have View Document permission
  • The document version has at least one Linked Document relationship

Bringing Forward Annotations

If your configuration allows this, you can bring forward link annotations from previous document versions, dramatically reducing the effort required to maintain annotations throughout a document’s lifecycle

Components of Link Annotations & Document Links

A document link or link annotation consists of multiple parts:

  • Annotation refers to all parts that are attached to the source document: the selected area or text, the note, and selected links to anchors or target documents.
  • Note refers to the optional text that a user can enter with a link annotation or any other kind of annotation.
  • The info card displays details about an annotation, including the note text, user mentions, and options to edit, move, reply, and add additional link targets. For link annotations, the links to anchors or target documents also appear in the info card. In PromoMats Vaults where Text and Claims Management is enabled, links to Claims records used to generate suggested links also appear in the info card.
  • The Linked Document relationship is a document relationship that Vault automatically creates between the document with the link annotation and each target document or document with a selected anchor. Users can also create this relationship directly by creating a document link.
  • Document Links are composed of the specific document sections that are linked by a Linked Document relationship. These include anchors and target documents, but they can exist separately from any link annotations.
  • Anchors are entities that exist on the target documents, entirely separate from a link annotation on the source document.
  • Links to Anchors are displayed either on an annotation info card or under a Linked Document relationship in the Doc Info fields panel. The anchor itself continues to exist independently, but by selecting it, the user creates a link between the source and target documents.
  • Content Linking is the process of using an anchor or permalink when creating a link annotation. You can create a link annotation either in Annotate mode or by selecting Link to Content from the linked document’s Actions menu in the Linked Documents section.

The following list describes actions related to annotations and the permissions required to execute them:

  • Create Link Annotations: To create link annotations, you must have the Annotate, Edit Fields, and Edit Relationships permissions on the document with the link and the View Document permission on the target document. To link to an anchor, you also need the View Content permission on the target document.
  • Modify Link Annotation: To delete a link annotation or to modify any part of the annotation other than the selected anchors, you must be the original creator of the link annotation and have the Annotate permission. However, any user with the Annotate, Edit Fields, and Edit Relationships permissions can modify a link annotation by adding or removing links to anchors.
  • Create an Anchor: To create an anchor, you must have the View Document, View Content, and Create Anchors permissions on the target document. Once an anchor exists on the target document, that anchor is available for selection to all users with the View Document and View Content permissions.
  • Use the Create Anchor Tool: In order to use the Create Anchor tool, you must have View Document, View Content, Annotate, and Create Anchors permissions on the target document.
  • Delete an Anchor: To delete an anchor, you must have the Annotate permission on the document and be the original creator of that anchor, or you must have the Manage Anchors permission assigned through your security profile. The latter permits deletion of other users’ anchor annotations. You can never delete anchors that are in-use.
  • Move Anchors without Inbound References: To move anchors that do not have inbound references, you must have the Annotate permission on the document and the Manage Anchors permission assigned through your security profile, or you must be the author of the anchor annotation. You can never move anchors that have inbound references.
  • Create Document Links: To create a document link relationship without creating an annotation, you must have the Edit Relationships permissions on the document on which you’re creating the links. You must have the View Document permission on the target document and the View Content permission if you’re linking to an anchor.
  • Import Document Links: To import document links, you must have the Edit Relationships permission on the document you are importing document links to. You must have the View Document permission on the document you are importing document links from. Vault will only import document links for which you have View Document permissions on all target documents.
  • Link to Content: To be able to see the Link to Content option for links in the Linked Documents section, you must have the Annotate permission.