If you have ever wanted to provide a URL (a.k.a. web link) in a handout or slide presentation, or even over the phone, you know that long links can be challenging to share. Free link shortening tools, such as TinyURL, Google's URL Shortener, and Bitly all allow you to copy/paste a longer link into a text box, and with one click create a much shorter version that you can then copy/paste into a document, email message, slide, or other format. Take a look at the following example using TinyURL: access this Google Drive folder
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B8bAiOF7GgJyNUJCVk9nNUFLYm8&usp=drive_web
with
http://tinyurl.com/ncdatoolkit
Some shortening tools include additional features, such as creating a custom link and tracking how many times your short link was clicked.
Tip Provided by Melissa A. Venable, melissa.a.venable@gmail.com