Guide permalinks

Last Updated: July 02, 2023 13:40

A permalink (permanent link) is a persistent identifier in the form of a URL that preserves the exact settings and is intended to remain unchanged, producing a hyperlink that can be used in a variety of content. These guide permalinks can be embedded in various areas, such as emails, knowledge base articles, or help centers.

Permalink string

For the Visual Designer

After creating a guide through the normal guide creation process:

Set the status to Public and navigate to the Guide Details page.
In the Guide Details page, select the ellipsis button in the upper right-hand corner to view details.
Select Copy to copy the "Permalink." The string will look something like ?pendo=123123123123. This string is the unique identifier for the guide you are on.

For the Legacy Designer

After creating a guide through the normal guide creation process, set the status to Public, navigate to the Guide Details page and grab the string next to "Permalink." The string will look something like ?pendo=123123123123. That string is the unique identifier for the guide you are on.

Adding a permalink to a URL

To make use of the permalink, locate the string mentioned above and attach it to the end of the URL that you want to link to, such as:

Base URL: https://app.acme.com/addUsers
URL with permalink: https://app.acme.com/addUsers?pendo=123123123123

This link can then be used wherever you want.

Display criteria

Guide permalinks are subject to standard guide visibility restrictions:

The visitor is included in the guide segment
The page matches the location of the first (or only) step of the guide
The matched element is visible (if applicable)
The scheduled date is in range (if applicable)
The guide is set to "Staged" or "Public" status

If the visitor does not meet the criteria required, then the guide will not display even if a permalink URL is used.

Note: The permalink does not respect the Activation type of your guide. For example, if your guide has Automatic activation and a Visitor has already seen the guide and clicks on the permalink, we would expect them to see the guide again.

Login redirects

If your app drops parameters upon login, and your user is not logged in when they click the link, the guide will not appear as they have not yet been identified by Pendo. In this case, you can ask your users to ensure they are logged in before clicking the link.

Dynamic URLs

If your app has URLs that contain IDs that change from user to user or session to session, then this feature is difficult to use on those URLs as you cannot create a URL that can be shared with all users.

For example, let’s say you have a page for reports that has a URL of: https://app.acme.com/report/4820829203/details

This example URL included the dynamic user ID of 4820829203. You can create and use a permalink for an individual user to share with them, but cannot create a permalink to share with all of your users in that situation.

For this scenario, we suggest you start a guide at a place in the app that does not have the dynamic URL, such as: https://app.acme.com/reportListand then use the walkthrough guide with the permalink to walk the user to their own specific report detail page.