Set up links to help your users navigate between related content in your guide (like speakers and their sessions) and to give your users access to external resources.
You can manually set up links one by one, or you can use a linking spreadsheet template to set up multiple links simultaneously.
For help with linking, review these troubleshooting notes.
Before getting started make sure you have added sessions to your schedule and added list items to a custom list in your guide. Builder won’t know what to link together until you have added some content.
We recommend linking content once your schedule and custom lists are finalized. Please make sure the titles of your content are correct and check for spelling errors before linking.
Manually Connect Content in Your Guide
The manual linking process lets you quickly link content within and beyond your guide.
Link Sessions or List Items to Other Content
Open the Schedule or a Custom List you would like to link - the process will be the same either way.
Click on a session or list item, then click on the Links tab. In the search bar, start typing the name of the schedule sessions and/or list items you would like to link. Click the checkbox to link them. With manual linking, you can also link to schedule tracks, web views, or full custom lists.
Link Sessions or List Items to Websites
Open the Schedule or a Custom List you would like to link - the process will be the same either way.
Click on a session or list item, then click on the Links tab. Click the URL button. Add the Name of the Website and the URL (including http://) and click Add URL.
Link Sessions or List Items to PDF Documents
Open the Schedule or a Custom List you would like to link - the process will be the same either way.
Click on a session or list item, then click on the Links tab. Click the PDF button. Enter the Name of the PDF document. Select PDF to import from your computer, or provide the PDF URL if it’s hosted online and click Add PDF.
For more help with including PDF documents in your guide, click here.
How to Link Video
You can link video to sessions in your guide. Open the Schedule in your guide. Click on a session, then click on the Video tab. Here, you will be able to elect to add a new video by entering the URL. Please note that only YouTube, Twitch, Vimeo and Zoom are supported at this time.
You can also synchronize the data for the video from this tab. Syncing the data will update the video to have the most current title, as well as the start and end time (for live videos).
If the video is currently active, the Guidebook Web page will display a live badge. If the video has a start time but is not yet active, the video will display an upcoming badge.
There must be an end date set for the video in Builder to have the live badge show on Guidebook web.
There are a variety of ways to incorporate video in your guide including the above method, having a video directly on your menu using the web view feature, or within the description of sessions or custom list items using our description linking tool or HTML.
Managing Links and Categories
When you create a link a category is automatically created. The category will be named after the feature that the item within the category came from. For example, if video links have been added to a guide, a Video category will be created automatically. If you are linking external content, a category named PDF or Websites will be created depending on the kind of content you are linking.
You can order items within a category by dragging and dropping them into place. You can also re-order all of the links in a category using the cog next to the category name. It is also possible to drag and drop items between categories to create one category with different types of content. It is also possible to re-name categories.
To remove a link, click on the cog to the right of the item and click Remove link. When removing a link, the link will only be removed from view on this item. You will need to navigate to the other location and remove the link there too if you want to remove the link in both locations.
Deleting a custom list item or session will delete the link that was created in both locations automatically.
If you would like to add more color to your guide you can add images to your links. If the item has a thumbnail, the image will be shown in the link automatically. If not, you can upload an image. The linked image should be 114px x 114px and be a .JPG or .PNG image.
Importing Links
You can add numerous links to your sessions or custom lists simultaneously using a template.
There are two templates available for use:
- Schedule Session Linking Template (find and upload this via the Schedule feature) or
- Custom List Linking Template (find and upload this via any Custom List)
Both are available to download from the bottom of this article.
How to Export Your Content for Builder ID Numbers
Linking Template relies on ID numbers to ensure Builder knows exactly what information to link together. Sometimes your schedule sessions or list items have the same name, or there might be special characters (punctuation/accents) that throw Builder off. To make sure our linking template has the highest chance of success, we will use ID numbers and names.
From the guide-building screen in Builder, click Back to Dashboard. Click the More Options ellipsis button (⋯) to the right of the guide title and then click Export Data.
In order to find the ID's for the Schedule and our Custom List, we need to export them. Click on the Schedule and/or the name of the Custom List you are linking to. Check your email for the documents Builder sent to you and save them to your computer.
Setting Up Your Linking Template
Download the applicable Linking Template in Builder, or download one from the bottom of this article.
Make sure you download the Linking template.
Use Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers, Apache OpenOffice, or LibreOffice to open either the Linking.XLS or Linking.CSV file.
Do not change Row 1 in the template spreadsheet. If the column headers are changed, Builder will give you an error as it will not be able to read the spreadsheet properly.
Verify Column A to ensure you have downloaded the correct template.
- Session ID (Optional) on the Schedule Linking Template
- Item ID (Optional) on the Custom List Linking Template
Copy and paste the IDs and Names into column A and B based on your template. The Schedule template will have the Session ID and Session title. The Custom List template will include the List ID and Item Name.
Based on the content you wish to link, complete the template by inputting data in the other columns. Each row of the linking template can only link to one other type of link. If one session or item needs to link to a variety of items (ex. another session, a Custom List item, and a URL), please make sure to list each of those in a separate row. Some examples are shown below.
If you are linking sessions to sessions:
If you are linking sessions to custom list items:
If you are linking sessions to websites:
If you have multiple sessions or custom lists that you are linking to in the same cell, separate each ID or name with a semicolon (do NOT add a space after each semicolon).
Importing Your Linking Template Into Builder
After you have set up your Linking Template, navigate back to the feature in Builder. Go to the Schedule if you are adding a Schedule Linking Template. Go to the Custom List to upload the Custom List Linking Template.
Click on Data Import / Sync. To the right side of the screen, click Select File under the Import Links heading. Select your file and import. After you receive a Success email from Builder, refresh your browser and check your Sessions or Custom List to see that the Links came through.
Linking Template Errors
We know how it feels to get a "Whoops" email from Builder! Below lists common Error Messages you might receive when trying to import your linking template spreadsheet.
Please review the information below, make the appropriate changes, and re-import your spreadsheet.
Could not find session [session title]. Please make sure this is a valid session name in your guide.
Please double-check the column with session names and make sure your session names exactly match the data in Builder. This includes special characters like accents and punctuation, as well as spaces.
Could not find item [custom list item name]. Please make sure this is a valid item name in your guide.
Please double-check the column with list item names and make sure your list item names exactly match the data in Builder. This includes special characters like accents and punctuation, as well as spaces.
"[Column Name] (Optional)" Column: Could not find this column. It appears you have renamed the template columns, or you are using an old template. Please correct.
This error indicates you may be using the incorrect template. The easiest way to troubleshoot this is to download a fresh copy of the import template and copy your data over, without modifying any of the column headers in Row 1. Click here for Linking Template information.
Multiple objects were found for "[Name of Object]". Please specify the object you want to link by entering its ID in the appropriate ID column.
This means that the name of this session or this list item appears more than once in your guide. Builder is having trouble figuring out which one you want to link. We recommend using the Session ID or the List Item ID numbers instead to avoid any potential hiccups over names.
To find the Session or Item ID, export your data. When you export data out of Builder, the system will show you all of the ID numbers it has generated for each piece of your content. Click here to learn how to export.