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+---
+title: 'Getting started using LinkTaco'
+description: 'LinkTaco getting started guide'
+---
+
+# Getting Started - Welcome to LinkTaco!
+
+LinkTaco is an open source platform that allows you to manage your links in
+virtually anyway you please. You can organize links and notes by tags,
+statuses, read flags, and more. You can also shorten URLs and create link
+listings (ie, link-in-bio type pages) that have full analytics.
+
+Custom domains, QR codes, full API, etc. There's a lot built into the platform.
+For now though, let's just get you going on the basics. This is a getting
+started guide after all.
+
+## Accounts & Organizations
+
+In LinkTaco, you have one account. Each account can own "unlimited"
+organizations. What is the difference between the two?
+
+An account is what you use to login. Think of it like your email and password.
+This is the identity that is used to link all your data together as owned by
+your account.
+
+An organization is more like a grouping of data. So all your bookmarks,
+listings, shorts, QR codes, custom domains, etc. all are linked to the given
+organization.
+
+Organizations are also what are paid for. So when you want to upgrade to a paid
+organization it's done so at the organization level. Since each account can
+have multiple organizations this allows an account to combine both paid
+organizations and free organizations.
+
+Every account can have up to **two free organizations**. After that if you'd
+like to add a new free organization you must pay for an existing organization
+first. This will free up a new free organization slot and you can then create
+your new organization.
+
+### Changing organizations
+
+When logged into your account by default the system will select your default
+user organization (that is, the organization created when you registered your
+account).
+
+You can see which is selected in the drop down menu in the top left corner of
+the LinkTaco page. If you have other organizations linked to your account, you
+can use this drop down menu to select the organization you wish to work in at
+the moment.
+
+Just change the organization in the menu and the page will reload. You will now
+be working in the selected organization and the data you see will be linked to
+the organization you selected.
+
+## Organizing & Filtering
+
+With Bookmarks, Notes, Link Listings and Short URL's you can use tags to
+organize your links. You can use these tags to filter your data quickly find a
+specific entry you're looking for. With Bookmarks (and Notes) you can also
+search by query.
+
+If you click "Advanced Search" in the top right corner of these pages you can
+also exclude tags. This allows you to, for example, filter for all items tagged with
+"beach" but exclude any also tagged with "boat".
+
+On Bookmarks/Notes, each time you add a new filter to the chain you will be
+given an updated RSS feed link in the corner. You can use this for RSS feeds
+specifically for this filter. All users can create these custom RSS feeds for
+all public links on the system.
+
+## Bookmarks & Notes
+
+Saving bookmarks and notes is the core piece of LinkTaco. The idea is to save
+your bookmarks (links) in a way that's easy to organize and find them when you
+need them.
+
+Saving them is very easy and the process is virtually the same for both a
+bookmark or a note.
+
+1. Click Save Link (or Save Note)
+1. Fill out the Title, URL (not present for Note), Description/Note, etc.
+1. For bookmarks, if you click "Archive URL" you will trigger a new archive of
+ the URL using the archive.org service. Once this process is completed the
+ archive link will be displayed in your link listings.
+1. Select the organization this should be saved to (for most people there is
+ only one choice but for those with multiple, choose the one you'd like)
+1. Enter the tags to use. You can specify up to 10 and they are comma
+ separated (ie, tag 1, tag 2, simple tag, tag 4).
+1. Click Save
+
+And you're done.
+
+## Link Listings (ie, link in bio)
+
+Link Listing is exactly what the name implies. It's an ordered list of links.
+Think of it like a link-in-bio type link that is used in social media profiles.
+Of course it's useful in way more scenarios than that. For example, for us in
+on-boarding new members to a club or providing useful resources for a class.
+There are countless use cases.
+
+To save a new listing simply login to your account and do the following:
+
+1. Click "Lists" on the left menu
+1. Click the "Add" button on the top right
+1. Enter all the various fields. Only title, slug and domain are required.
+1. Some notes on specific fields:
+ - Slug, this is the list name. For example, if the URL is "https://links.ht/test-list"
+ then "test-list" is the slug.
+ - Image, if an image is provided it must be a jpeg, gif or png format. It
+ will be resized and displayed on the listing page.
+ - Domain, the default link listing domain is `links.ht`
+ - Domain, if you have a paid organization and have configured a custom domain
+ for your listings you can select that here. Whatever domain is selected is
+ what will be used for your listing. You can change it in the future if
+ you'd like.
+ - Is Default, this is only useful if you have a custom domain configured.
+ When loading a custom domain without providing a list slug, the system will
+ look for the "default" list configured for the custom domain. This is how
+ you select which list is used.
+1. Click the "Save" button
+
+And you're done. You will be redirected back to the Lists listing page. Now you
+need to add all your links to the listing. So find your new list and do the
+following:
+
+1. Click the "Actions" button
+1. Click the "Manage Links" menu item
+1. Click the "Add" button at the top right.
+1. Add the Title, URL, Order and Description.
+ - Order, this field will determine the order in which the links are
+ displayed. Starting at zero (0).
+ - In the future we will have a nicer ordering interface.
+1. Click "Save".
+
+That's it. Do this for as many links as you'd like to have on the listing.
+
+## Link Shortening
+
+Link Shorts are just URL redirects, usually with a shorter URL that's easier to
+remember. Using this service provides your end users with greater ease of use
+and also provides you with some extra insights, such as analytics.
+
+To add new new short URL, login to your account and do the following:
+
+1. On the left menu, click on "Short Links".
+1. Click the "Add" button at the top right.
+1. Fill out the various fields. Only the Title, URL and Domain fields are
+ required. Some notes on the fields below:
+ - Short Code, you can customize the short code by specifying what you'd like.
+ It's not required. If not given then one will be generated for you. As long
+ as the code is not already taken by another user, for the given domain, you
+ will be allowed to use it.
+ - Short Code, An example. If the shortened URL is
+ "https://linkta.co/short-url", then the short code in this case is
+ "short-url"
+ - Domain, the default domain for shortened urls is `linkta.co`
+ - Domain, if you have a paid organization and have configured a custom domain
+ for your short URL's you can select that here. Whatever domain is selected is
+ what will be used for your short. You can change it in the future if
+ you'd like.
+1. Click the "Save" button.
+
+All done. You can now see the new URL in your short listings.