Where are My Links stored?

Question

Where does SharePoint store My Links? For example, a list on a users My Site, the User Profile database, etc...

I'm looking at this feature that was in SharePoint 2007:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/sharepoint-server-help/add-and-manage-the-links-on-your-my-site-HA010168638.aspx

But seems to have been hidden/deprecated in SharePoint 2010/2013 but still available:

http://sharepointconnoisseur.blogspot.ca/2013/04/tips-for-add-to-my-links-function-on.html

Answer 1

The MyLinks control is hidden in SharePoint 2010, but as you point out still present in both 2010 and 2013. The links are part of the User Profile. So they are in the User Profile Database. You can access them via the QuickLinksManager and the User Profile Property "QuickLinks".

I should point out that the preferred technique in 2010 and 2013 is to use Tags rather than quick Links and there is a feature "Create Tag from Link" to assist in this transition.

#QuickLinks Management
$context = Get-SPServiceContext -Site http://mysite
$upm = New-Object Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.UserProfileManager($context)

$profile = $upm.GetUserProfile("dht\ruby")
#Get the QuickLinks Manager
$qlm = $profile.QuickLinks
#List them
$qlm.GetItems() | fl

Answer 2

even-though the My Links feature is obsolete in SharePoint 2013/2016, there is still a client-side equivalent to query the My Links data by using the older

.../_vti_bin/UserProfileService.asmx

and use the GetUserLinks method to get the My Links for each user.