Getting started
Create an account, confirm your email and make your first short link.
This takes about two minutes. You'll need an email address you can open.
Create an account
- Go to Sign up.
- Enter your name, email address and a password of at least 10 characters. A short phrase of a few words is easiest to remember and hard to guess.
- Choose Create account. You'll see Check your email.
You start on the Free plan, with your own organisation and a workspace called Personal. You can upgrade, rename them or invite people later.
Confirm your email
- Open the email we sent you. It can take a few minutes to arrive; check your junk or spam folder too.
- Select the link in the email. It works once, for 24 hours.
- On the page that opens, choose Confirm email. You'll see Email confirmed.
- Sign in with your email and password if you aren't already.
Didn't get it? Choose Send a new link. It's on the Check your email page, in the banner at the top of the app, and under Settings → Account. You can ask for one a minute, up to five a day; each link works for 24 hours, and earlier links keep working too.
Why we ask
Confirming your email stops people creating links in someone else's name. You can't create links until it's done, but you can look around the app.
Create your first link
- In the app, open Links and choose Create link.
- Paste the long address into Destination URL, for example
https://example.com/spring-sale?ref=newsletter. - Leave Back-half blank to get a random one, or type your own, such as
spring-sale(Pro and above). The page tells you straight away if it's free. - Optionally add a Title so you can find it later, and some Tags separated by commas.
- Choose Create link. You'll see the link's page with your new short link, such as
https://bgum.me/spring-sale.
Share and track it
- Select Copy next to the short link and paste it wherever you like: an email, a social post, a slide.
- Need it on paper? Choose QR code on the link's page. See QR codes.
- Clicks appear on the link's page and in Analytics within a minute or two.
- You can change where the link goes at any time. People who already have it go to the new place. See Change a link.
What to do next
- Learn what else links can do: schedules, passwords, tags and more.
- Read your analytics, including how people and bots are told apart.
- Invite your team (Business).
- Use your own domain (Business).
- Turn on two-factor authentication to protect your account.
- Compare plans to see what each one includes.
If something goes wrong
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| The confirmation email hasn't arrived | Wait a few minutes and check junk and spam, then choose Send a new link. Work email filters sometimes hold messages back: adding our address to your contacts or safe senders helps. If it still doesn't come, contact us and we'll confirm your address another way. |
| "That link didn't work" | Confirmation links work for 24 hours and once only. If you've already confirmed, just sign in. Otherwise choose Send a new confirmation link on that page. |
| "That password is too easy to guess" | Use at least 10 characters that aren't a common password or your email address. A phrase of three or four words works well. |
| "New sign-ups are closed" | The service isn't taking new accounts right now. Contact us. |
| Create link is greyed out | Your email isn't confirmed yet. Open the email we sent and select the link. |
| "Only http and https links can be shortened" | Paste a web address. Links to mailto:, tel: or files on your computer can't be shortened. |
Something missing or unclear? Tell us and we'll improve this page.