Links and references are two powerful features found within MyLife which allow you to access your information with greater ease and efficiency. A link or reference in MyLife is quite similar to a link which you would find on a webpage when surfing the internet. Double clicking a link or reference in MyLife takes you to a new set of information without having to manipulate the Menu Panel.

Although links and references are somewhat similar they have different purposes. You can create a link between any two items which are owned by the same person. Meanwhile, a reference allows you to refer to another persons information.

A link in MyLife is very similar to a link you would find on a webpage on the internet; its main purpose is to allow you to access different portions of an individuals information in an efficient manner. However, a link in MyLife is somewhat constrained; it can only connect two pieces of information which are owned by the same person. For example, you can create a link between John's car and John's car insurance, however, you can not create a link between John's car and Jane's car insurance.

Following the selection of an item from the List Panel, the Content Panel becomes visible. At this point in time you are now able to add link(s) to the item selected in the List Panel. To do so you click on the add link(s) button (see The Layout for the location of this button) which brings up the Link Panel shown in the figure below.

At the top of the Link Panel is a reminder of which item you are going to be adding the link(s) to (in the figure below we are adding link(s) to John & Jane's Car). You will notice that the Person table has only name in it; this is because you can only create links between two items owned by the same person. You can now proceed to select the Category and Sub Category based upon what items you would like to link to. After all the items you would like to link to are selected, click on Add Link(s). Once a link has been added it will be displayed in the links table in the Content Panel. You can now double click on the link in order to automatically load up the linked information.

You may notice that there is a Create backward link(s) as well checkbox on the Link Panel . In the figure below, leaving this option checked would result in a link being created from John & Jane's Car Insurance to John & Jane's Car in addition to a link which travels in the opposite direction (from John & Jane's Car to John & Jane's Car Insurance).

References allow you to refer to another individuals information. The only constraint is that you must refer to similar information; for example, when the vehicle Sub Category is selected you can only refer to other vehicles.

In order to add a reference you simply click on the add reference(s) button (see The Layout for the location of this button) which brings up the Reference Panel displayed below. After all the items you would like to refer to are selected, click on Add Reference(s). Once a reference has been added it will be displayed in the List Panel (notice that a reference has a light blue, italicized look). You can now double click on the reference in order to automatically load up the referenced information.