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FeaturesManaging Links

Last Updated: 3/10/2026

Managing Your Links

This guide covers everything you need to know about working with links in LinkAce - from adding your first bookmark to advanced management techniques.

Method 1: Web Interface (Detailed)

The web interface gives you full control when adding links.

Steps:

  1. Click the ”+ New Link” button in the top menu
  2. Paste the URL in the URL field
  3. Click out of the URL field or wait 2 seconds
  4. LinkAce automatically fetches:
    • Page title
    • Meta description
    • Preview image
  5. (Optional) Customize the title or description
  6. (Optional) Assign to Lists
  7. (Optional) Add Tags
  8. (Optional) Add personal notes
  9. Set Privacy (Private, Internal, or Public)
  10. Click “Save Link”

Pro tip: Let LinkAce fetch the metadata - it’s faster and more accurate than typing manually!

Method 2: Bookmarklet (Fastest)

The bookmarklet is the quickest way to save links while browsing.

Setup:

  1. Go to User Settings
  2. Find the Bookmarklet section
  3. Drag the button to your browser’s bookmarks bar

Usage:

  1. Visit any webpage
  2. Click the LinkAce bookmarklet
  3. A popup appears with pre-filled information
  4. Add tags/lists if desired
  5. Click “Save”

The bookmarklet automatically:

  • Captures the current page URL
  • Fetches title and description
  • Uses your default privacy settings

Browser Compatibility:

  • ✅ Chrome / Chromium
  • ✅ Firefox
  • ✅ Safari
  • ✅ Edge
  • ✅ Brave
  • ✅ Opera

Method 3: API

Integrate LinkAce with other tools using the REST API.

Quick example:

curl -X POST https://your-linkace-url/api/v2/links \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "title": "Example Site",
    "description": "An example website",
    "is_private": false
  }'

For complete API documentation, see API Tokens.

Method 4: Import

Migrate bookmarks from other services.

Supported formats:

  • HTML bookmark export (Netscape format)
  • Compatible with exports from:
    • Chrome
    • Firefox
    • Safari
    • Pocket
    • Pinboard
    • Raindrop.io
    • Most other bookmark managers

Import process:

  1. Go to System Settings → Import
  2. Upload your HTML file
  3. Choose import options
  4. Click “Start Import”

For details, see Import & Export.

LinkAce offers two display modes:

Card View

  • Shows preview images
  • Larger, visual layout
  • Great for browsing
  • Best for links with good images

List View

  • Compact, text-focused
  • More links per page
  • Faster scanning
  • Best for text-heavy collections

Change view:

  1. Go to User Settings
  2. Find “Display links as…”
  3. Choose Card or List

Each link displays:

ElementDescription
TitleLink name (clickable to visit)
URLWeb address (shown below title)
DescriptionSummary or notes
ListsCollections it belongs to
TagsKeywords (clickable to filter)
StatusWorking ✅ / Moved ⚠️ / Broken ❌
Added DateWhen you saved it
ActionsEdit, Delete, Share buttons

Link Details Page

Click any link title to see full details:

  • Complete description
  • All notes
  • Full tag list
  • List memberships
  • Privacy status
  • Wayback Machine archives
  • Check history
  • Share options
  1. Find the link (browse, search, or filter)
  2. Click the Edit button (✏️ icon)
  3. Modify any field:
    • URL
    • Title
    • Description
    • Lists
    • Tags
    • Notes
    • Privacy
  4. Click “Update Link”

Note: Changing the URL doesn’t re-fetch metadata. To get fresh metadata, delete and re-add the link.

Edit multiple links at once:

  1. Go to the Links overview page
  2. Check the boxes next to links you want to edit
  3. Click “Bulk Actions” dropdown
  4. Choose an action:
    • Add to List - Add all selected to a List
    • Remove from List - Remove all from a List
    • Add Tags - Add tags to all selected
    • Remove Tags - Remove tags from all selected
    • Change Privacy - Set privacy for all selected
    • Delete - Delete all selected
  5. Confirm the action

Pro tip: Use bulk actions to quickly organize imported bookmarks!

Adding to Lists

While creating a link:

  1. In the Lists field, start typing
  2. Select existing List or create new one
  3. Add multiple Lists if needed

After creating a link:

  1. Edit the link
  2. Add or remove Lists
  3. Save changes

Adding Tags

While creating a link:

  1. In the Tags field, start typing
  2. Select existing tag or create new one
  3. Add multiple tags (recommended: 3-7 tags)

After creating a link:

  1. Edit the link
  2. Add or remove tags
  3. Save changes

Quick tagging:

  • Click any tag on a link to see all links with that tag
  • Click ”+” to add that tag to another link

Adding Notes

Notes are personal annotations visible only to you (or your team if Internal/Public).

Use notes for:

  • Why you saved this link
  • Key takeaways
  • Related resources
  • Todo items
  • Context or reminders

Markdown support:

Enable in User Settings → “Enable Markdown for descriptions and notes”

Then use:

# Heading
**bold** and *italic*
- List items
[Links](https://example.com)
`code`

Privacy & Sharing

Privacy Levels

LevelVisible ToUse Case
PrivateOnly youPersonal bookmarks
InternalAll logged-in usersTeam resources
PublicEveryone (if Guest Mode on)Public collections

Changing Privacy

Single link:

  1. Edit the link
  2. Change Privacy dropdown
  3. Save

Multiple links:

  1. Select links
  2. Bulk Actions → Change Privacy
  3. Choose new privacy level

Share via URL:

  1. Open the link details page
  2. Copy the LinkAce URL
  3. Share with others

Note: Recipients need appropriate permissions:

  • Private links: Only you can access
  • Internal links: Must be logged in
  • Public links: Anyone can view (if Guest Mode enabled)

Share externally:

Use the share buttons on the link details page:

  • Twitter / X
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Copy link

Configure which buttons appear in User Settings → Link Sharing.

Automatic Checks

LinkAce automatically monitors your links for:

  • Availability - Is the site still online?
  • Status changes - Did it move (301/302 redirect)?
  • Broken links - Returns 404 or other errors

How it works:

  1. Cron job runs scheduled checks
  2. LinkAce tests each HTTP(S) link
  3. Status is updated:
    • ✅ Working - Site is accessible
    • ⚠️ Moved - Redirect detected
    • ❌ Broken - Site is down or returns error
  4. (Optional) Email notification sent

Requirements:

Check History

View check history for any link:

  1. Open the link details page
  2. Scroll to “Check History”
  3. See all past checks with timestamps and results

Manual Check

Force an immediate check:

  1. Open the link details page
  2. Click “Check Now”
  3. Wait a few seconds for the result

When a link breaks:

  1. Check Wayback Machine - View archived version
  2. Update URL - If it moved, update to new URL
  3. Add note - Document what happened
  4. Keep or delete - Decide if it’s still useful

Wayback Machine Integration

Automatic Archiving

LinkAce can automatically archive your links to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

Enable archiving:

  1. Go to User Settings
  2. Find “Wayback Machine backups”
  3. Enable “Backup links to the Wayback Machine”
  4. (Optional) Enable “Backup private links”

How it works:

  • When you save a new HTTP(S) link, LinkAce sends it to archive.org
  • The Wayback Machine crawls and archives the page
  • You can access archived versions even if the original disappears

Limitations:

  • Some sites block the Wayback Machine (robots.txt)
  • Login-required pages won’t be archived
  • Non-HTTP(S) URLs can’t be archived

Viewing Archives

From LinkAce:

  1. Open a link details page
  2. Look for “Wayback Machine” section
  3. Click “View Archives”

Direct access:

  • Visit https://web.archive.org/web/*/YOUR_URL

Searching & Filtering

Use the search bar in the top menu:

  1. Type keywords
  2. Press Enter
  3. Results show matching:
    • Titles
    • Descriptions
    • URLs
    • Tags

For powerful filtering:

  1. Go to Links page
  2. Click “Advanced Search”
  3. Filter by:
    • Query - Text search
    • Lists - Links in specific Lists
    • Tags - Links with specific tags
    • Privacy - Private, Internal, or Public
    • Status - Working, Moved, or Broken
    • Date Range - Added between dates
  4. Combine multiple filters
  5. Click “Search”

Pro tip: Bookmark your common searches for quick access!

For complete search guide, see Search & Filters.

Filtering by Tags

Quick method:

  • Click any tag on any link
  • See all links with that tag

Multiple tags:

  1. Click first tag
  2. Click ”+” next to another tag
  3. Results show links with BOTH tags

Filtering by Lists

View List contents:

  1. Go to Lists page
  2. Click any List name
  3. See all links in that List

Filter within List:

  • Use search bar while viewing a List
  • Results are scoped to that List
  1. Find the link
  2. Click Delete button (🗑️ icon)
  3. Confirm deletion

Note: Deleted links go to the Trash (if enabled).

Bulk Delete

  1. Select multiple links (checkboxes)
  2. Bulk Actions → Delete
  3. Confirm deletion

Trash / Recycle Bin

Deleted links are moved to Trash for 30 days (configurable).

Restore from Trash:

  1. Go to Trash (in menu)
  2. Find deleted link
  3. Click “Restore”

Permanently delete:

  1. Go to Trash
  2. Click “Empty Trash”
  3. Confirm (cannot be undone)

Disable Trash:

In System Settings, disable “Use Trash” to delete links immediately.

For details, see Trash documentation.

Dashboard Overview

The Dashboard shows:

  • Total links
  • Links added this week
  • Links added this month
  • Broken links count
  • Recent links
  • Most used tags
  • Most used Lists

For details, see Dashboard documentation.

Per-List Statistics

Each List shows:

  • Number of links
  • Most recent additions
  • Top tags used

Per-Tag Statistics

Each Tag shows:

  • Number of links
  • Most recent additions
  • Related tags

Best Practices

✅ Use the bookmarklet - Fastest method
✅ Let metadata auto-generate - Don’t type titles manually
✅ Add 3-7 tags - Not too few, not too many
✅ Assign to 1-2 Lists - Avoid list overload
✅ Write useful notes - Explain why you saved it
✅ Set appropriate privacy - Think before making public

Organization Strategy

✅ Tag consistently - Use same terms (e.g., javascript not js)
✅ Review periodically - Clean up broken links
✅ Use search - Don’t rely on memory
✅ Leverage bulk actions - Organize in batches
✅ Create workflows - E.g., “Read Later” → “Archived”

Performance Tips

✅ Don’t over-tag - More tags = slower searches
✅ Archive old links - Move to “Archive” List
✅ Delete duplicates - Keep your collection clean
✅ Use pagination - Don’t display 100+ links per page

Common Workflows

”Read Later” Workflow

  1. Save - Use bookmarklet, add to-read tag
  2. Read - Open from “To Read” filtered view
  3. Process - Remove to-read, add topic tags, assign to Lists
  4. Archive - Mark as read or move to appropriate collection

”Research Project” Workflow

  1. Create List - “Project: Website Redesign”
  2. Collect - Add all relevant links to this List
  3. Tag - Use tags like inspiration, tools, examples
  4. Work - Reference during project
  5. Archive - When done, change List privacy to Private

”Team Knowledge Base” Workflow

  1. Create Lists - By topic or department
  2. Set Privacy - Internal for team-only
  3. Collaborative Curation - Everyone adds links
  4. Tag Standards - Agree on tag naming conventions
  5. Regular Maintenance - Monthly review and cleanup

Troubleshooting

Metadata Not Fetching

Problem: Title and description don’t auto-generate.

Solutions:

  • Check that URL is valid HTTP(S)
  • Ensure site is accessible (not behind login)
  • Try manual check: click out of URL field
  • Increase timeout in .env: META_GENERATION_TIMEOUT=20

Bookmarklet Not Working

Problem: Clicking bookmarklet does nothing.

Solutions:

  • Check browser popup blocker settings
  • Try dragging bookmarklet again
  • Clear browser cache
  • Check if LinkAce is accessible

Problem: Link status never updates.

Solutions:

  • Verify cron job is running (check System Settings)
  • Check cron logs for errors
  • Manually trigger: php artisan links:check

Slow Performance

Problem: Link pages load slowly.

Solutions:

  • Reduce “Entries per page” in User Settings
  • Enable Redis caching
  • Clean up broken links
  • Archive old links

Next Steps

Advanced Topics

Happy bookmarking! 🔖

Links Lists TagsUser Settings