Introduction
A paper link connects an item to the paper that supports it, wherever that paper is stored - a shared drive, your board portal, or anywhere else the paper has a URL.
Adding one means boardcycle passes that link on to the people you share the meeting with: boardcycle users see it on the agenda page, and everyone else gets it in the exported agenda. What boardcycle shares is the link itself - a person can only open the paper if they already have access to the location where it is stored.
Adding a paper link
To add a paper link to an item:
click the edit icon for the item
ensure that Does this item have a paper? is switched to Yes
add the link to the Paper Link field
Worth knowing: Only complete URLs are accepted
To be accepted a paper link must be a complete URL - for example: https://www.google.com - incomplete URLs such as www.google.com will not be accepted.
Accessing paper links once they have been added
Once a paper link has been added to an item, the link can be accessed in two ways:
secretariat users can click on the paper link icon on the agenda page of the meeting
others who receive the exported agenda can click on the item name, which is exported as a clickable link
Worth knowing: Paper links are not shown in the management portal
Paper links are available to secretariat users and can be carried through to exports. They are not shown in the management portal, so people whose access is limited to the management portal will not see them there.
Important: You must manage access to paper links
Adding a paper link to boardcycle does not give boardcycle any access to that paper, or any ability for boardcycle to manage access to that link.
Accordingly, if you add a paper link, you must ensure that all of your intended recipients of that link have access to the location where the paper is stored.
When and how to use paper links
There are a number of different applications for using paper links, such as:
using paper links to turn your agenda into a 'virtual pack' by linking to papers in your organisation's environment, such as SharePoint or Google Drive
if you use Diligent, using paper links to reduce time spent on linking and relinking agendas in your board pack building process.
Example use cases are described in further detail in Ways to use paper links.