Linking to Text Sections

When you have a long page and would like to give your readers the option to skip down to the information they want, you can use text anchors to create a link to a specific point in your text. Skip to the notes at the bottom of this page for a working example and more info!

Step 1: Place your anchor

  1. Position your cursor at the beginning of the line of text to where you would like the reader to skip. It's a good idea to use the title of a section or a heading for this.

    Cursor placed in front of a heading element
     
  2. In the text editing menu, click the anchor button (shaped like a flag).

     Placement of the anchor icon in the text eding bar
     
  3. Give your anchor a short name that you can easily remember.

    anchor properties popup window with Anchor Name filled in as "best_example"
    • Full words are preferable to abbreviations.
    • Don't use spaces, but dashes or underscores are okay. 
    • If you're creating multiple anchors on one page, it's important that you create a unique name for each one.
  4. Click OK. Your anchor will appear as an icon within the text editor. (It will be invisible on the public website page.)

    Anchor icon in text where cursor was previously placed

Step 2: Link to your anchor

  1. Start by highlighting the text you would like to be the skip link.

    text sentence with one word selected
     
  2. In the text editing menu, click the link button.

    placement of link button in the text editor menu
     
  3. Instead of adding a URL, change the option in the drop-down menu to read "Link to anchor in the text".

    "Link to anchor in the text" selected in dropdown menu "Link Type"
     
  4. Select the anchor name that you created before in the "By Anchor Name" drop-down menu.

    popup with options to select "by anchor name" and "By element id". "By anchor name" has been selected and its dropdown menu includes the anchor name
     
  5. Click OK. Your text is now a link leading further down your page.

    previous example sentence, selected word now now a live link

Notes

  • Anchors can be very useful for long FAQ pages, such as this FAQ for new students.
  • Links can only skip down as far as the bottom of the page, so if you make a text anchor very close to the end of your text, your readers will still see some of the content above the anchor when they skip down.
  • You can also link to an anchor on a different page entirely. Start by creating the anchor as you usually would. On the page you would like to link to that anchor, follow the steps to create a link, and add #[name you gave the anchor] to the end of the URL.