Hyperlink sent in Notification not behaving as expected.

[tulip]

Hi All,

I have a list which contains a calculated field which is the URL of an InfoPath form we want to open in the browser.

When I use that field from a SharePoint Web-Part it opens in the browser correctly.

When I cut and paste that URL into IE it opens in the browser correctly.

When I create an email in outlook and put the URL into a hyperlink, then send the email - the receiver opens the form in the browser correctly.

I have created a workflow which queries the list and extracts various values to be sent in a notification email.  The calculated value is put into a Single line Variable (Var_Link).  A notification is created with a hyperlink referencing that variable.  On receiving the email  the URL looks the same, but does not open in the browser - it opens on the desktop.

Has anyone experienced that before?

The URL is long - 305 chars - could that be a problem ?

http://xxxxxxxx/xxxxxxxxxxx/HR/LD/HRCBSite/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation=%2Fxxxxxxxxxxx%2FHR%... 20140724084731%2Exml&OpenIn=Browser&Source=http%3A%2F%2Fxxxxxxxx%2Fxxxxxxxxxxx%2FHR%2FLD%2FHRCBSite%2FCourseDetailsLibrary%2FForms%2FAllItems%2Easpx

Thank you.

[brad_orluk · Accepted solution]

Hi Catharine,

If you're storing this long URL to a text variable that could indeed be the issue as those variables are limited to 255 characters.

The easiest workaround, in my opinion, would be to sign up for a free bitly account and then add their shortening action to the Nintex designer (via the Nintex Live catalog seen below).

Then add the action to the workflow:

Then, in the configuration, you can dynamically populate that URL field and then bitly will send back a shortened URL (http://bit.ly/XXXXXX) that you can save to another text variable and then send out via email.

So this:

http://intranet.crestan.local/Site/HR/LD/HRCBSite/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation=%2SITE%2FHR%2... 20140724084731%2Exml&OpenIn=Browser&Source=http%3A%2F%2FNAME%2FNAME%2FHR%2FLD%

Would become this:

http://bit.ly/14d6D8t

Hope this helps!

Best,

Brad