What is all the extra that is added to URLs when you "Copy Link" of a document from a SharePoint document library?

Question

My organization is in the process of migrating from SharePoint 2013 on-prem to SharePoint Online and coming from a classic SP environment, I'm used to the old way of copying URLs to documents in document libraries (classic library view). Now that I am starting to use the modern SharePoint Online doc libraries, I noticed that now when I copy a link to a document via clicking the ellipse next to a document -> clicking "Copy Link", there are things added to the url in addition to just the path to the document I'm used to.

Example of the extra stuff added to the URL:

• "/:b:/r/" (inserted in the middle of the url)
• "?csf=1&web=1&e=b8cm1v" (inserted at the at the end of the url)

Can anyone please explain to me the purpose of all this "extra" stuff??? I NEED to know!!!!

Answer 1

@Sherman Steffen

The URL obtained by Copy Link includes sharing information.

For example, here's an URL https://wendytest123.sharepoint.com/:w:/s/emilytest2/EYGgKay8g3tAhm_risIHuIMBu_o6WC2AhOT2I7WLtuDNIw?email=emily%40tenant.onmicrosoft.com&e=iz1By5

1."https://tenant.sharepoint.com" represnts your tenant.
2.":w:" represnts the type of document you are sharing, "w" is word document.
3."s" represnts the type of sharing which is being used, "s" means the docunent is read only.
4."emilytest2" represnts the site collection name.
5."EYGgKay8g3tAhm_risIHuIMBu_o6WC2AhOT2I7WLtuDNIw?email=emily%40tenant.onmicrosoft.com" represnts the sharing type. In this example, it means share with the specfic person (emily).
6."e=Xy9XcR" is added by default behind each copy link.

A reference about how copy link is built in the SharePoint Online: https://cresyl.eu/en/office-365/understanding-how-share-links-are-built/

If you want to get the path of a document, select the document -> Details -> Copy path.

Note: Microsoft is providing this information as a convenience to you. The sites are not controlled by Microsoft. Microsoft cannot make any representations regarding the quality, safety, or suitability of any software or information found there. Please make sure that you completely understand the risk before retrieving any suggestions from the above link.

---

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.