Uploading PDFs to your website
(this information originally appeared in our August 2020 newsletter)
If you are uploading documents such as PDFs to your website, you should be using our Resources feature — it is intended for files that are linked across your website and can be used in email communications. Refer to our user guide for specific instructions on using the Resources feature.
Do not make a copy of a PDF from another UMaine website
When you need to make a document available on your website, it can be tempting to upload your own copy, but doing this will create duplicate content on our website, and your copy may become inaccurate as the website hosting the original makes changes. Instead, link to the content where it already appears.
Linking to PDFs you find on other umaine.edu websites
It is better to link to web pages and not documents. If the web address you want to use does not end with a slash ( / ), you should find a link to a page that hosts the document(s) instead.
For example, do you link directly to the Academic Calendar PDF on the Student Records website? If the link you are using ends with .pdf, it has likely become broken as a new version of this file was needed to reflect changes in the upcoming fall and spring semesters.
Right-click and copy link location for documents
In our Academic Calendar PDF example, if you click the link on the Student Records website you will view the PDF. This link should not be copied for your use, because it will change as updates are made to the calendar. Instead, you should “right-click” on the link (or use the keyboard shortcut for your system) and select “Copy Link Address” from the context menu that appears. This will give you the “resource link” that will always redirect to the current version of the document.
Commonly referenced PDFs on the UMaine website
Here are two examples of links that use resources. If you need to link to this content, please use the text below for your link (for the purpose of this email, the links will go to a page in our user guide rather than the actual PDFs to make it easier for you to copy the text).
Link to use for the current Academic Calendar PDF
https://studentrecords.umaine.edu/resource/2021-2022-academic-calendar
Link to use for the current Campus Map PDF
https://umaine.edu/blog/resource/printable-campus-map