Automatic hyperlinking

Every asset can be the target of an automatic hyperlink. Automatic hyperlinking creates a hyperlink to an asset when its name appears in another asset's text attribute. These hyperlinks are always kept up to date when you edit your data. Automatic hyperlinking is especially useful for linking to Business Term assets.

Important 

In Collibra 2024.05, we launched a new user interface (UI) for Collibra Platform! You can learn more about this latest UI in the UI overview.

Use the following options to see the documentation in the latest UI or in the previous, classic UI:

In this topic

Where automatic hyperlinking can be applied

You can enable or disable automatic hyperlinking at the following levels:

  • Environment: Contact Collibra Support to enable or disable automatic hyperlinking for your entire environment.
  • Domain: Enable automatic hyperlinking for all assets in a domain.
  • Asset type: Exclude a specific asset type from automatic hyperlinking to prevent all assets of that asset type from being automatically hyperlinked. This also improves performance.
  • Asset: Exclude a specific asset from automatic hyperlinking if its name is a common word, such as "is," "a," "or," or "and," to avoid creating unnecessary hyperlinks.
Note 
  • If multiple assets with the same name exist and you click a hyperlink, they are shown in a dialog box. You can then select one of the assets to open its asset page.
    Hyperlink has multiple destinations
  • After importing data or after a backup is restored, Collibra triggers a rebuild of automatic hyperlinks. You can also manually rebuild hyperlinks.
  • By default, automatic hyperlinking isn't case sensitive. For example, an asset named "Nato" will be the target asset even if "NATO" is mentioned in a text attribute. Contact Collibra Support to change case-sensitivity for automatic hyperlinking.

Enable automatic hyperlinking

You can enable automatic hyperlinking at both the domain level and the asset level.

When enabled at the domain level: Automatic hyperlinks to all assets in the domain are created. If the name of any asset in the domain is mentioned in the text attributes of other assets (whether previously or in the future), that mention is automatically converted into a hyperlink.

Example Suppose that a domain named Acronyms contains an asset named WHAM. If automatic hyperlinking is enabled for the Acronyms domain, Collibra automatically creates hyperlinks for any mentions of WHAM in the text attributes of other assets. For example, if the text WHAM was mentioned in the definition of another asset named Project Overview, the text WHAM is now shown as a hyperlink. Clicking this hyperlink takes you to the WHAM asset in the Acronyms domain.

When enabled at the asset level: Automatic hyperlinks to the specific asset is created. If the name of the asset is mentioned in the text attributes of other assets (whether previously or in the future), that mention is automatically converted into a hyperlink.

Prerequisites

Steps

  1. Open the domain or asset for which you want to enable automatic hyperlinking.
  2. Click Actions → Auto hyperlinks.
    The Auto Hyperlinks dialog box appears.
  3. Click More icon → Auto hyperlinks.
    The Automatic Hyperlinks dialog box appears.
  4. Clear the No Automatic Hyperlink checkbox.
    The dialog box closes. If you are on the domain page, automatic hyperlinking is enabled for all assets in the domain. If you are on the asset page, automatic hyperlinking is enabled for only that asset.
  5. Clear the Prevent Automatic Hyperlinks... checkbox, and then click Save.
    If you are on the domain page, automatic hyperlinking is enabled for all assets in the domain.
    If you are on the asset page, automatic hyperlinking is enabled for only that asset.
Tip You can disable automatic hyperlinking for a specific asset in a domain even if automatic hyperlinking is enabled for that domain.

What's next?

Rebuild hyperlinks.

Disable automatic hyperlinking

You can disable automatic hyperlinking at both the domain level and the asset level.

When disabled at the domain level: Automatic hyperlinks to all assets in the domain are removed.

When disabled at the asset level: Automatic hyperlinks to the specific asset are removed.

Tip 
  • You can always manually create a hyperlink that targets an asset.
  • You can disable automatic hyperlinking for a specific asset in a domain even if automatic hyperlinking is enabled for that domain.
  • Contact Collibra Support if you want to enable or disable automatic hyperlinking for your entire environment.

Steps

  1. Open the domain or asset for which you want to disable automatic hyperlinking.
  2. Click Actions → Auto hyperlinks.
    The Auto Hyperlinks dialog box appears.
  3. Click More icon → Auto hyperlinks.
    The Automatic Hyperlinks dialog box appears.
  4. Select the No Automatic Hyperlink checkbox.
    The dialog box closes. If you are on the domain page, automatic hyperlinking is disabled for all assets in the domain. If you are on the asset page, automatic hyperlinking is disabled for only that asset.
  5. Select the Prevent Automatic Hyperlinks... checkbox, and then click Save.
    If you are on the domain page, automatic hyperlinking is disabled for all assets in the domain.
    If you are on the asset page, automatic hyperlinking is disabled for only that asset.

You can remove a specific automatic hyperlink that targets an asset without affecting other automatic hyperlinks that target the same asset.

Tip If you want to instead remove all automatic hyperlinks that target an asset, disable automatic hyperlinking for the asset.

Steps

  1. Open the asset.
  2. In the text field containing the hyperlink you want to remove, click . Click the text attribute containing the hyperlink you want to remove.
    The text editor opens.
  3. Select the hyperlinked text, click (Remove autohyperlink), and then click Save.
    The hyperlink is removed from the name. However, if you add the same name again in the text attribute, automatic hyperlink to the corresponding asset is created again. Additionally, if hyperlinks are rebuilt, for example, after restoring a backup, the hyperlinks may reappear.
  4. Select the hyperlinked text, click Exclude auto hyperlink icon (Prevent auto hyperlinking), and then click the checkmark icon.
    The hyperlink is removed from the name. However, if you add the same name again in the text attribute, automatic hyperlink to the corresponding asset is created again. Additionally, if hyperlinks are rebuilt, for example, after restoring a backup, the hyperlinks may reappear.

Related topics

Hyperlinking configuration