One of the modern web parts I use a lot when building pages of my own is the Quick Links web part. I always recommend this web part to end-users building pages because everyone always has a need to link to somewhere else.
Which web part am I talking about? The one highlighted below…
Depending on where you’re putting the links, the layout of the page you’re putting them on, and the look-and-feel of your site, you may want them to look different than standard hyperlinks. Recently, some new UI-styling capabilities were added to this web part. You may want to go back to your old links to utilize some of these cool, new looks! 🙂
To demonstrate the options, I’ll work with a standard set of Travel links using the out-of-the-box Quick Links web part from above (nothing custom here). Each item will link to some other location, either in the same site or elsewhere:
- Travel Partners – links to a page on current site for our Travel partners
- Travel Policy – links to a Policy document on another site
- Travel Request form – links to a Form on current site
It’s important to know these links are not security-trimmed. For example, if an end-user doesn’t have access to the site where the Travel Policy is linked to, they will receive an Access denied message if they click the link.
If you add the links and use the default thumbnail setting, SharePoint will automatically select an icon it feels is the most appropriate for the URL as shown in the example below on My Links Page:
However, once you add the links, you can customize the icon from hundreds of icon options to tailor each link. Below, I’ve updated the 3 links to more closely reflect what it is they’re linking to:
That’s great, but we can even take it a step further! A recent addition to this web part is the ability to customize the links even further by editing the style for the Quick Links web part as a whole (image).
Several styling options are available:
Below are examples of some of the style options – these are great choices to add a bit of context around your links, match the style of your page, and really make your links pop!
With all the new changes rolling out to modern web parts these days, there are lots of ways to customize your modern pages to suit your style. Although you should use these enhancements going forward on new pages, don’t forget to circle back on some of your existing modern pages to take advantage of them there too!
Thanks for reading.
-JCK
This was very helpful. But it seems you can’t change the color of the different buttons. We have six links and would like to use color (with or without the same button/icon) to indicate the natural flow between the links.
One way around this is to use a ‘custom image’ for your quick links and upload a solid block of color for each one. (I do this frequently and have a library of solid squares of many different colors I upload). You can use this to indicate your natural flow if you want (lighter to darker for example). Hope that helps.
-JCK
yup, that’s what I guessed. Thanks!
Hi. Can we use external links as Links in this web part. Cause currently im only able to selects internal documents in recent documents. TIA
Hi Tharindu, yes you can use any external link. Select “Copy a link” when entering the url for the “Quick link”
-JCK
i want to link to a “file://…..” location, I could do it with classic summary links but I cannot in modern… I also want 2 columns and groups of links, why cant I do this in modern?
Hi Jacqui,
You’d have to ask Microsoft on that one. Last I checked, this capability is not in Modern yet. You could search the SharePoint UserVoice site and see if it’s in there and cast a vote.
-JCK
How can we get rid of ?web=1 from the URLs? For instance, on a team site, we added a quick link of
‘https://[tenant].sharepoint.com/search/Pages/docresults.aspx#k=partrid:’ but SharePoint changes the link to ‘https://[tenant].sharepoint.com/search/Pages/docresults.aspx#k=partid:?web=1’. We do not want SharePoint to mess with the URL because this is a specific URL structure to return relevant results, not results for ‘partid:?web=1’. Are we not able to use refined search results links as quick links?
-Chris
Hi Chris, I’ve never tried. Your best bet is to ask this question on the Tech Community forum. That has a much larger viewing audience, I’m sure someone has come across this before.
-JCK
Thanks for the page! I’ve added several Quick Links to a modern team site, and they work. However, I notice when users click on them that it “redraws” the page (minus the page title and image) before it goes to the destination. How do you stop it from doing this, so it goes right to the destination page (like you’d expect a link to)?
Hi Steve,
Sorry, this is out of my wheelhouse. I suspect you will have little control over how the pages are redrawn but perhaps reach out to the larger tech community on https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/
-Joanne
Letting users to add customized html code would change everything. PHP or ASP would be even better. Not as a must to use.. but an option for those who have an idea of programming.
I am using quick links on a modern page. I would like the link to open in a new window not in the same window. Is this possible ? I do not want to use text to be able to have this functionality as it will impact the look of the page.
Hi Leigh-Anne,
It depends what your link is to. As of today:
– if your URL is to a different SP site, it will open in the same tab
– if your URL is to a document on your current site, it will open in the same tab
– if your URL is to a different page on your current site, it will open in the same tab
– if your URL is to an external site, it will open in a new tab
Out-of-the-box, this is the behavior.
-Joanne
I read somewhere (and it works) that if you first put your desired link into a URL shortener such as Bitly, you can fool SP into thinking it’s an external link. This then forces it to open in a new page
ooooh nice one! I built an entire user experience with Quick Links and would have to do a lot of these, but it’s good to know this work-around. The worst part of having a link to a document within the Sharepoint is when they click the “back” button in the URL, they get dumped into the document library, not back to the original page with the quick links web part.
Hey there Joanne!
Gotta question, I’m using Quick Links for Modern SP and trying to see how to change their colors. I get three options:
Auto-selected
Custom image
Icon
I’m using icon to select an icon that goes with the Quick Links. But I’d like to change the actual color of my 8 Quick Links to something other than red.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
AJ
Hi AJ, I’m not sure I’m following you. Are you talking about the background of the quick links? The background is selected from the theme. You could create a different/custom theme if you want.
-JCK
As there is still no solution from Microsoft (!!!) – I just used this one – easy to install and to deploy and it will just stop opening SharePoint Modern sites in new tabs: https://www.tecconsult.at/products/sharepoint-online-open-link-in-same-window-tab
I hope you are still monitoring questions. I would like to know how to re-order the links list. Over time we have added links and I would like to display them differently rather than just have the new ones tacked on at the bottom.
Hi Thomas,
Edit the page. When you click into the ‘Quick Links’ web part and hover over any of the quick links you have set up, you will get an image showing right beside the pencil edit icon that will allow you to drag-and-drop the links in any order.
Let me know if that works for you!
-JCK
Drag-and-drop dosn’t work. I have a “cross-arrow” symbol right beside the pencil. Clicking it, nothing happens. On mouse-over a text is shown: “if selected, use Ctrl & left or right arrow to reorder”. But nothing happens on that keys.
I have the “cross-arrow” mouse-cursor when over the QuickLink. When I click, I get a “Quicklinks” window on the right side – is it now selected? But I can’t move anything???
Hey, this is great! Is there a way to create one Quick Links web part to distribute on multiple pages so that when links are updated, it only needs to be updated in the single web part? Thanks! JL
Hi Jennifer.
No, this is not possible. If you want something dynamic like that, I would suggest you use a Highlighted Content Web Part pointing to a SP list of links instead. Another option is to use search with the PnP Search web part that looks to a list of links for you. Just some ideas off the top of my head. Hope that helps.
-JCK
When I add or edit a link in the Quick Links section, the only choices I see are Recent Pages and Recent Images. How do I get the option to add a link to another page?
HI Victoria,
When you click ‘Add a link’, you should see 5 options on the left to add a link from: Recent, OneDrive, Site, Upload, From a link. You can use the ‘From a link’ option and then paste in the URL to your other page.
-JCK
I’m not seeing the 5 options. Just a list of recent pages and images. Any idea how to enable the other options?
Hi Victoria, I’m afraid I have no idea. I always see them. Have you tried on another site? another new page? Do others around you see the same options? I would log this with your support desk (if you have one) as I can’t offer much more help from afar.
-JCK
Also, try on another browser… perhaps it’s a browser UI bug…
When using the custom image option for the thumbnail in the Quick Links app, what is the appropriate pixel size for the artwork so it shows up clearly. Specifically, in the “Button” format.
Hi Andre, i didn’t know so asked in Twitter. Here’s the answer from @rettiwt2060 :
Image size 379px x 213px should be giving a quality image.
Link: https://sharepoint.stackexchange.com/questions/217600/recommended-sharepoint-online-modern-canvas-quick-link-image-size
-JCK
Hi Joanne, is there a “web part / script” i can use to get a single button to open several external links at once?
Hi. Is there a way to change the grid option to say 3 x 3 instead of the standard 4 across?
Hi Mel, not without a custom web part.
Is there a way to drag and drop links form one quick link to another? Incase I want to move links from one quick lick to the other?
Hi Tom, i haven’t tried, but i don’t think so.
Hi Joanne,
Is it possible o set permissions or audiences to quick links?
Hi Corcharelli, I don’t think it’s currently possible.
How to open quicklinks in a new tab?