Create custom base URL for ID number

Question

In either Internet Explorer or Firefox, I would like to be able to type something short (i.e. go ###), and have it automcatiicaly change the go to a full prefix web address (i.e. http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=). Is there a way to do this in either browser?

Answer 1

The item is called "SearchUrl"

They are saved in the registry, along with a list of translations for special characters.

An example, using your request:

Create a .reg file

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\kb]
@="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=%s"
":"="%3A"

This will register the keyword kb - the %s is the placeholder for the string you supply.
It also knows that when you type a : in the string that it should be substituted by %3A in the URL to ensure it is passed correctly.

Other common substitutions could include:

" "="+"
" "="%20"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

Note you can only have one definition for each character, so in the above list, you would have to decide if a space should be translated to %20 or +

If you wanted other shortcuts, you could add them in place of the kb, and produce a list of special shortcuts - this site has several you can choose from. (go, find and ? have special meaning, so cannot be used)

To actually use the shortcut, use the address bar (shortcut is ALT+D ) and type your text in there, e.g. kb 198279 takes you to Managing Exchange Server 2007: How to Configure Storage Quotas for a Mailbox Database

Answer 2

You could use AutoHotKey to make "go" a hotstring. You could use IfWinActive to make the hotstring only work in your browsers.

Sample code:

#IfWinActive ahk_class IEFrame                   ; for IE
:O:go::http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=   ; the "O" omits the trailing space
#IfWinActive ahk_class Chrome_WidgetWin_1        ; for Chrome
:O:go::http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=   ; the "O" omits the trailing space