Short links

A short link has a destination (where it goes) and a back-half (the part after the domain). In bgum.me/spring-sale, the back-half is spring-sale. You can change the destination whenever you like; the short link stays the same.

Create a link

1. Open Links and choose Create link.
2. Destination URL: paste the full address. If you leave off https://, we add it.
3. Domain: if your workspace has custom domains, choose one. Otherwise links use bgum.me.
4. Back-half: leave blank for a random one, or type your own (Pro and above). See Back-halves.
5. Title and Tags are optional, but make links much easier to find later.
6. Open UTM tags to add tracking tags to the destination, typed in or filled from a saved template.
7. Open More options for notes, start and stop times, a password, the redirect type, or to save it as a draft.
8. Choose Create link. The link's page opens with the short link ready to copy.

What a destination can be:

• Any public http:// or https:// web address, up to 4,096 characters.
• Not a private or local address, such as localhost, 192.168.1.10 or a .local name.
• Not another short link on this service, because that could loop.
• Not an address with a username or password in it, such as https://user:[email protected].

Back-halves

• Random back-halves are 7 characters, such as a2ruepj. They leave out characters that look alike, like 0 and o, or 1 and l, so they're easy to read out and type.
• Your own back-half (Pro and above) can be 3 to 64 letters, numbers, hyphens (-) and underscores (_). It can't start or end with a hyphen or underscore.
• Capitals don't matter. Spring-Sale and spring-sale are the same link.
• Each back-half is used once per domain, for good. Back-halves of archived and deleted links stay taken, so a printed QR code or an old email can never be pointed somewhere else by someone else.
• Some words are reserved because the service uses them, such as admin, api, docs and login.

As you type a back-half, the form tells you whether it's available.

Change a link

1. Open Links and select the link.
2. Under Edit link, change the destination, title, tags, notes, campaign or times.
3. Choose Save changes. The short link goes to the new destination straight away, everywhere.

• Editing never uses your monthly allowance, on any plan.
• The back-half and domain can't be changed. To use a different one, create a new link (and pause the old one if you like).
• If someone else changed the link while you were editing, you'll be asked to reload so you don't overwrite their change.

Duplicate a link

To make a similar link, open the link and choose Duplicate. The create form opens with the original's destination, title, tags, folder, campaign, notes and options filled in. Change anything you like, then choose Create link.

• The copy gets its own back-half and starts with no clicks. It uses one of your monthly allowance, like any new link.
• Passwords aren't copied. Set one on the copy if it needs it.
• A stop time that has already passed isn't copied, so the copy works straight away.

Link states

A link's page shows its state, and the buttons under Status move it between them.

To see archived links, choose Archived in the status filter on the Links page.

Start and stop times

Pro and above. Use these for time-limited offers, events or competitions.

1. On the create form, open More options. On an existing link, use Start and Stop under Edit link.
2. Set either or both. Times are in your device's time zone.
3. Save. Before the start, visitors see "This link isn't available". After the stop, they see "This link has expired".

To remove the schedule, clear both times and save.

After it expires, send people to: instead of the "This link has expired" page, send visitors somewhere useful, such as a page saying the offer has ended. It applies once the stop time has passed or the click limit is reached. Leave it blank to use the expired page, or the address set for expired links on a custom domain. Visits after a link expires aren't counted as clicks.

Password-protected links

Pro and above. Visitors see a "This link is protected" page and must enter the password before they're sent on.

• Passwords need at least 4 characters. We store them scrambled, so we can't tell you a forgotten one: just set a new one.
• After 10 wrong guesses in 10 minutes from the same network, that network has to wait before trying again.
• Share the password separately from the link, for example by phone or in a different message.
• A password keeps casual visitors out; it isn't a substitute for protecting the destination itself.

Redirect types

Query strings and UTM tags

Anything after a ? on the short link is passed on to the destination. For example, if the link goes to https://example.com/sale:

• If the destination already has a parameter with the same name, the destination's value is kept.
• If the link is in a campaign, the campaign's UTM tags are added too, unless the destination already sets them.
• UTM values are also recorded in analytics.
• qr is used by QR codes to count scans, so it isn't passed on.

To add UTM tags to the destination itself, open UTM tags on the create form and fill in any of Source, Medium, Campaign, Term and Content. They're added to the destination address when the link is created, replacing any tag of the same name already in it.

UTM templates

Save the tags you use often, such as those for your monthly newsletter, and fill them in with one choice.

1. Open Links and choose UTM templates.
2. Give the template a name and fill in at least one tag, then choose Save template.
3. When creating a link, open UTM tags and choose the template under Fill in from a template. Change any tag before creating the link if you need to.

Everyone in the workspace can use templates; people who can edit links can add, change and delete them. Changing or deleting a template doesn't change links already made with it.

Tags and search

• Add tags when creating or editing a link, separated by commas, such as newsletter, spring. A link can have up to 20 tags of up to 50 characters. Capitals don't matter.
• Filter by tag: choose a tag from the menu in the Links list, or select a tag on a link.
• Manage tags in Links → Tags, which shows how many links have each tag. Rename a tag to fix a typo everywhere at once. Rename it to the name of another tag to merge the two. Deleting a tag takes it off its links; the links themselves stay.
• Search looks through the back-half, title, description, notes, destination and tags. Each word you type matches the start of a word, so camp finds "Campaign", and every word must match, in any order. Part of a back-half also matches, so 8fg finds bgum.me/55y8fg4. The best matches come first: an exact back-half, then one that starts with your search, then titles that contain it.
• Filter by status with the status menu. The list hides archived links unless you choose Archived.
• More filters narrows the list by domain or by the day links were created (UTC days), and changes the order: newest or oldest first, recently changed, or back-half A to Z.

Folders

Folders keep a workspace's links in order, for example one per client or campaign. A link is in one folder at most, and folders can hold other folders, up to 3 levels deep.

1. Open Links → Folders and choose a name, and where to put the folder (the top level, or inside another folder). Then choose Create folder.
2. Put links in it: choose the folder when you create a link or on the link's page, or tick links in the list and move them together.
3. The folders appear above the Links list with how many links each holds. Select one to see its links, or Not in a folder for the rest.

On the Folders page, Rename, move or delete changes a folder. Two folders in the same place can't share a name. Deleting a folder never deletes links: its links and folders move up a level (to the top level if it was a top-level folder). Viewers can see folders; changing them needs a role that can edit links (see roles).

Saved views

A saved view remembers a search and its filters, so a list you check often is one click away.

1. Search or filter the Links list until it shows what you want.
2. Choose Save this view, give it a name and choose Save. Tick Share with the workspace to let your team use it too (people who can edit links can share).
3. Your views, and those shared with you, appear above the list. Select × next to one of yours to delete it.

Views keep the filters, not the links: a view of paused links always shows the links that are paused now.

Change several links at once

1. In the Links list, tick the links to change, or tick the box at the top to tick every link on the page.
2. Under With the links, choose what to do: Move to folder, Add tags, Remove tags, Pause, Resume, Set a stop time, Remove the stop time (Pro and above), Delete or Export CSV.
3. Under Which links, keep Ticked links, or choose All … matching links to change every link that matches your search and filters, on every page (up to 10,000 at a time).
4. Choose Apply. You're asked to confirm, with the number of links that will change. Nothing changes until you confirm.

• If more or fewer links match by the time you confirm (say a colleague added one), nothing is changed and you're told the new number, so you can check before trying again.
• Pausing, resuming, stop times and deleting reach the short links straight away, the same as changing one link. Each change is added to the link's history.
• Links already as asked (for example pausing a paused link) are left alone and counted separately. Links disabled after a safety check can't be changed, except to delete them.
• Deleting can't be undone, and deleted back-halves are never reused.

History

Each link's page has a History list showing every change: when it happened (UTC), what changed and the destination at that point. It's handy for checking what a printed link pointed to on a particular day.

Safety checks

To keep short links trustworthy, we check destinations against threat-intelligence services that list phishing and malware sites.

• When you create or change a link, a destination listed as dangerous is refused with "This destination is listed as unsafe by … so it can't be used". Check you've pasted the address you meant.
• Links you import are checked shortly after the import.
• Existing links are re-checked regularly. If a destination is listed later, for example because the site was hacked, the link is switched off. Visitors see "This link has been disabled", and the person who created the link gets an email with the reason.
• Some listings are less certain. Those links keep working while our team takes a look.

If you think a check got it wrong, contact us (or reply to the email) with the short link and the destination. If we agree, we'll switch the link back on and it won't be flagged for that destination again. It also helps to ask the listing service to review the site, especially if it's yours. See If your link was disabled.

Common problems