Overview of Permanent Links
Vault makes it easy to cross-reference your materials in other systems using permanent links. This article provides an overview of how you can access permanent links for the collections, folders, and files you’ve stored in Vault.
In this article
- About Permanent Links
- How to Download Permanent Links from the Web
- Accessing Permanent Links using the API
- Related Content
About the Permanent Links
Vault supports permanent links to the collection, folder, and file levels. These direct access links make it easy to reference specific storage locations in external collection management systems.
Permanent link URLs open a webpage where you can view the metadata associated with the selected item. In a future release, you’ll also be able to view materials that can be displayed directly on the page.
Users must be signed in to their Vault account to access information through a permanent link. You can retrieve permanent links either through the Vault web interface or by using the API.
Permanent Link Pages Display Metadata.
How to Download Permanent Links from the Web
From the Collection page, you can navigate to your desired collection or folder and:
- Select the desired collection or folder.
- Click Metadata from the action menu.
- Click Download Template CSV. The CSV file will download to your device using the following naming convention: Collection Name or Folder Name_Metadata_Date and Timestamp of the download time.
Example: News_Metadata_2026-01-24T00_45_07.436Z.
The downloaded CSV includes:
- Any existing metadata and custom fields already applied to the collection or folder.
If no metadata has been added to the collection/folder, the CSV file will display the following fields by default:
- Object Path
- Object ID
- Object Type
- Permanent Link
- Title
- Creator
- Subject
- Description
- Publisher
- Contributor
- Date
- Type
- Format
- Identifier
- Source
- Language
- Relation
- Coverage
- Rights
Permanent links available in the CSV.
Downloading this CSV provides a complete list of permanent link URLs (in the Permanent Link column), along with file names and associated metadata.
Accessing Permanent Links using the API
The Vault API provides access to key metadata about your stored collections and individual files. These APIs are useful for generating reports, integrating with external systems, and reviewing content inventory.
For detailed information on using and accessing the complete Vault API library, please refer to the Vault API User Guide.
To generate a list of permanent links for a particular collection, use the collections API in conjunction with the Files API to generate a folder and item-level inventory for a particular collection.
Collections API
Use the Collections API to retrieve the Collection ID for a specific collection, or to list all collections associated with your account.
Response Schema
The Response Schema includes:
- collection_ID
- collection_name
- file_count
- size
Files API
Use the Files API to retrieve a detailed inventory of folders and files within a collection, using the Collection_ID obtained from the Collections API.
Response Schema
The Response Schema of the Files API will provide the following pieces of information:
- file_id
- path
- size
- file_count
- created_at
- type
- permalink
- md5
- sha1
- sha256
Comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.