Safelinks are a security feature in Outlook. When you receive an email with links in, Outlook encodes those links and scans them for malicious content.
The encoded links look something like this:
https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amnesty.org%2Fen%2Flatest%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2Fturkiye-convictions-of-osman-kavala-four-others-needs-urgent-international-response%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfirstname.lastname%40amnesty.org%7Ca64a6b3c4b4048efbb5108dd18490b76%7Cc2dbf829378d44c1b47a1c043924ddf3%7C0%7C0%7C638693424199171453%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=IM20JV%2FIJiB%2F5%2Bfxy%2FRSfWsuvi7KN0%2FT1cDxsMkIFCQ%3D&reserved=0
As you can see, email addresses are also encoded into the links. If you click on it, it redirects to the original link. You wouldn’t usually see the full link written out like this, because it will be linked in a bit of text like this.
Why should we avoid publishing safelinks?
We have a policy that we don’t publish individual staff emails on amnesty.org for security reasons.
This policy may apply to other Amnesty websites or other sites using the Humanity WordPress theme.
How can I tell if a link in my post is a safelink?
If you hover over a link, on the front end, you’ll see the address come up at the bottom of the screen.
Or, if you’re in the WordPress editor, you can click on the linked text and see the link address:
How do I avoid publishing encoded safe links?
- Copy and paste from Word, instead of from your emails.
- Double check the links in your post and amend them before publishing.
How do I get the original, un-coded link?
There are some handy online tools that you can use to decode safelinks and get the original link:
e.g.
Or you can just open the link in your browser and use the link that you are redirected to. Or copy and paste from the original document.