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Symlinks

With the Symlinks utility, you can create and manage symbolic links (symlinks) to folders from external locations. This is useful when you want to include files in your project without copying them over, such as shared asset libraries, engine builds, or reference material stored outside the project.

Windows Only

Symlinks require Developer Mode to be enabled on Windows. Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > For developers.

The Symlinks utility is an Action Package that is disabled by default. To enable it, go to your Workspace Settings > Actions and enable the Symlinks package.

  1. Navigate to the folder where you want to create the symlink
  2. Click the New Folder button in the browser toolbar
  3. Select Symlink from the menu
  4. The Windows folder browser opens — pick the folder you want to link
  5. The symlink is created and appears in the browser with a symlink icon overlay

Symlinks are automatically excluded from Git tracking by adding an entry to .git/info/exclude.

All symlinks are stored in the project's shared settings, so every team member can see which symlinks are configured.

Open Project Settings and select the Symlinks tab to manage your symlinks:

  • Existing symlinks show the link path, source location, and a Remove button
  • Missing symlinks (configured but not yet created locally) show a Create Symlink button and a Remove button
  • External sources (folders outside the project) are labeled as (external) foldername

If a symlink exists in the settings but not on your local machine, click Create Symlink. If the original source folder is available, the symlink is created immediately. If the source folder cannot be found, a folder browser opens so you can locate it manually.

Click Remove on an existing symlink to delete the symlink from disk and remove it from the project settings. For missing symlinks, Remove only removes the entry from the settings.

When you clone a project that has symlinks configured, Anchorpoint automatically re-creates all symlinks where the source folder is available on your machine. Symlinks with unavailable sources are skipped and can be created manually from the Project Settings.

Anchorpoint handles symlinked folders safely:

  • Deleting a symlinked folder only removes the symlink, not the source files
  • Moving or renaming a symlinked folder moves the symlink without affecting the source