Clean URLs and short links

Clean URLs with {short}

{short} in a destination's path becomes a random 7-character code of letters and digits, such as A7kdP2x, made by your system's secure random generator. New destinations use {year}/{month}/{short}.{ext}; the destinations you already have keep their path. Next to the path, Presets offers Clean URL (Recommended) for {short}.{ext}, Short with Date and Original File Name. A destination whose links use your own domain suggests a clean URL, with an example on that domain, and Set Up Cloudflare R2… uses {short}.{ext} when you pick your own domain.

A code never replaces a file. On Amazon S3 and Cloudflare R2 the upload is only written if the key is new, and on other providers Aktar checks first; a taken key gets a whole new code. {short} makes links shorter, not private: for private sharing, keep the bucket private and copy temporary links.

Your own link shortener

A destination's new Short Links section connects the shortener you use: Shlink, YOURLS or Kutt on your own server, Dub or Short.io, or anything with an HTTP API through a custom request. Enter its address, domain and API key (kept in your Keychain), click Test, and choose to Only shorten links longer than a length or to Also shorten temporary links. After an upload, the short link is what's copied, in every format, and what the QR code shows. If the shortener can't be reached, the original link is copied and a notification offers Retry.

Your links and click data stay in your infrastructure: Aktar sends each link to the shortener you set up and nowhere else. Hosted shorteners such as Dub and Short.io see every link and click, and the form says so. Coming from ShareX? Import ShareX Configuration (.sxcu)… reads your custom URL shortener, shows where your token will be sent before anything is saved, and moves secrets to the Keychain.

Short links that keep up

History shows each upload's short link with its clicks and last click, and has Copy Short Link, Copy Original Link, Create Short Link and Delete Short Link. Deleting a file deletes its short link too. Renaming or moving a file in the bucket view points its short link at the new path when the shortener can, and warns you first when it can't. Replace File keeps the short link, a reused duplicate reuses it, and an expiring upload's short link expires with it.

On every device, and in your scripts

Aktar for Windows and the iPhone and Android app have clean URLs and short links too, and Share to Another Device carries a destination's short link settings and token. The local API, webhooks and scripts get shortUrl. In the aktar CLI, aktar short makes a short link for an upload in history, --short and --no-short decide for one upload, and AI agents get a create_short_link tool.