Do Cool Stuff

Copy or Alter the URL of Your Draft

Safety first — Sometimes you need to wear your helmet — you know it’s true!

Over the last few weeks, four writers have asked me how to do this Medium thing. Which to me is a sign that it's time to write a post about it!

1) Why you may want to know the URL of your story before you publish it

There are various reasons you may need to know what the URL of your story will be before you hit publish. For example:

• Perhaps you want to add it as a link elsewhere.
• Or you may want to alter the URL for some reason.

Let’s explore this first.

Perhaps you want to copy the URL as a link elsewhere…

Recently, Zatanna Dark published a story which had the option for the reader to choose their own ending from three choices.

Ideally, she would add all three URL links to the ending of the primary story before she has published any of them.

Preparation is vital in life — so Grandma Smillew tells me.

Then, when all four stories are ready, they could be published virtually at the same time. This would mean a reader would not stumble over a rogue ending before the main story has even gone live.

(Publishing, unlisting and then relisting the three endings when they are needed, would also work.)

Change the URL Medium have assigned:

You can only do this while your story is in draft mode.

I did this recently on my other profile, Juniper Less. I had written a story which I wanted to go out with Valentine Day in the title, but I am aware that makes the story less evergreen and more time dependant. The title was:

Just Another Day — Valentine Day

But you will note if you hover over the URL above that the title portion of the link says only: Just Another Day. My intention was to alter the actual title of the story to be the same as the URL then update when Valentine’s week was over.

That's enough WHY — let's look at the HOW.

2) Find the story URL to copy or change

Click on the three dots next to publish in your draft to view a menu. Then click on More settings.

On the next page, you will find various choices for you to explore at your leisure.

Scroll down to Advanced Settings and click on the arrow next to it. It will open to show the following options.

Click on Custom and then you get this insightful information:

Voilà — Medium show you what the URL will be… in this case

https://medium.com/@cmaymoretales/my-super-power-is-flying-4eb1d069984e

and also give a line with the option to alter the URL. (Remember to save after.) When changing, you are only interested in the title and unique string of numbers and letters at the end.

my-super-power-is-flying-4eb1d069984e

This is because the previous bit holds the domain and your profile information. Which Medium, redirect to wherever you decide to publish.

You can see below I changed the ‘title area’ of the URL to just be Super Power.

The unique string is of vital importance to make sure your story can always be recognised and once assigned when you start a draft will not be changed. No other Medium story will have the same unique string as yours.

There you have it. Power at your fingertips!

3) Bonus Bits

Find Friends Link before you publish

If you access your menu shown in figure 1 above and click on More Settings — then scroll down the page you are given — you will find this:

Some people add a friend's link to the top of their story — so it can be seen in previews — if it is an information piece they want non-members to be able to read.

If you copy the friend’s link into the draft, it will save you from having to add it after you have published.

Short URL

You may notice that on occasions you find your story URL shortened to just contain the domain (Medium) and the unique string. You can do this yourself if you need a short URL. Here’s how.

https://medium.com/the-interstitial/switch-off-online-love-89df799f9117

The above URL is a recent story of mine. If you choose to copy it to your browser, then it will take you to my tale. However, you could copy the string below and it would do the same thing.

https://medium.com/p/89df799f9117

(The p is for page.)

Check out some of the other stories I have written ABOUT Medium on this publication here.

Do you write fiction? This may interest you.