TechNote (Archived)

Using section anchors in Contribute

A section anchor is an invisible marker placed in your page to mark a specific topic or place. You can then create links to the anchor that allow website visitors to jump to the specified position in the page. This is commonly used on pages like glossaries that allow visitors to quickly jump to the "M" section. You can also make links to other pages by pointing directly to the anchor on the new page. This TechNote explains how to work with anchors in Contribute.

Creating a section anchor in Contribute:

In Edit mode, place the cursor at the point on the page to which you wish to create a link.
Click Insert > Section Anchor. A dialog will open.
Enter the name of the anchor, making it clear and meaningful so that others will understand what it's marking. For instance, if you are jumping to the 'products' section, name the anchor products.
Click OK to close the dialog. A small globe icon will be added at the cursor point. This will only be visible in Edit mode and will not be visible when browsing the web page.
Repeat this for each anchor needed.

Note: Keep in mind when you preview the page that anchors at the bottom of the page may not be seen if the page is scrollable, and they will jump to the top of the page only if it is a long page with room to scroll.

Now that the section anchors have been created, you need to link to them:

In edit mode highlight the text or element that will be the link.
Click the Link button and choose Drafts and Recent Pages.
In the dialog that opens choose the page on which you are working. It will be marked as Current Page.
To access the anchors click on the Advanced button to open the advanced link options.
In the advanced options click the section anchor pop-up menu to see the list of anchors on the selected page.
When linking to other drafts or recent pages, check the section anchor pop-up menu for anchors that have been established within these pages.
Select the anchor to which you want to link.
Click OK to create the link.
To test the anchor link, publish the page and click the link. You can also use the Preview in Browser option(F12).

Note: If you are trying to link to an anchor on an external web page, then the anchors should show up in the advanced dialog. If they are not listed, then find the right link by going to the page in question and clicking on the link that leads to the anchor. The full path will be displayed in the address bar, and anchor name will be listed at the end of the path. It should something like: #anchorname. Add the anchor name in the section anchor dialog without the pound sign (#), or paste the full path in to the URL field.