Short.io is a URL shortening service that lets Davidson employees turn long, unwieldy URLs into clean, branded short links — like go.davidson.edu/ti instead of a hundred-character marketing or registration URL. It's especially useful for printed materials, email campaigns, social media posts, signage, and anywhere a memorable, trackable link is helpful.
Who can use Short.io
Short.io is available to Davidson College employees. Access is granted by request. If you'd like an account, contact T&I at ti@davidson.edu, and we'll get you set up so you can sign in with your Davidson account.
What you can do with Short.io
- Create short, branded links on the go.davidson.edu domain (and a few other Davidson sub-brand domains where appropriate)
- Customize the "slug" — the part after the domain — so links are easy to remember and share (e.g., go.davidson.edu/ti)
- Track clicks and basic analytics on each link, including referrers and click counts over time
- Update where a short link points after it's been shared, without changing the short URL itself
- Generate QR codes from your short links for print materials and signage
Note- If you'd like a new sub-domain for your department in Short.io, T&I may be able to help. Reach out to us to learn more!
How to sign in
- Go to go.davidson.edu/shortio.
- Sign in with your Davidson account (single sign-on).
- You'll land in the Short.io dashboard.
Tip: Bookmark go.davidson.edu/shortio directly rather than the Short.io homepage. The homepage occasionally has trouble with our single sign-on, and going through the Davidson link gets you in cleanly every time.
How to create your first short link
- From the dashboard, paste the long URL you want to shorten into the box at the top of the page.
- Check the "Links for Domain" dropdown before you create the link. This is the most common gotcha — see the warning below.
- Edit the slug (the text after the slash) to something short and memorable. If you leave it alone, Short.io will auto-generate a random slug for you.
- Click Save, then Close.
- Your new short link will appear in the All links tab. From there, you can copy it, edit it, generate a QR code, or check its click stats.
Watch the "Links for Domain" dropdown
The "Links for Domain" dropdown in the top left cornercontrols which domain your new short link is created under. For most general use, you want go.davidson.edu.
The dropdown will occasionally reset itself to alphabetical order, which means it can default to a sub-brand domain like arts.davidson.edu without you noticing. If you create a link without checking, you can unintentionally publish it under the wrong domain. Always glance at the dropdown before saving.
Slug tips
The slug is the part of the short link after the slash — for example, the ti in go.davidson.edu/ti. A good slug is:
- Short. Easier to type, easier to remember, easier to print.
- Case insensitive. URLs typically don't acknowledge casing, go.davidson.edu/ti is the same as go.davidson.edu/TI
- Descriptive. Use words that describe where the link goes (go.davidson.edu/classroomtech) rather than random characters.
- Hyphenated when you need multiple words (go.davidson.edu/tech-guide-2026).
Editing and managing links
You can update almost everything about a short link after it's created — including the destination URL — without changing the short URL itself. This makes Short.io especially useful for printed materials and long-running campaigns: if a destination page moves, you update the link in Short.io and every existing short link keeps working.
To edit a link, find it in the All links tab and click the edit icon next to it.
While editing, you can also do helpful things such as generate a QR code for the link.