mklink /D "C:\Users\You\Documents\MyPapers" "D:\Research\Papers"
Result: You will see a folder named "MyPapers" in your Documents. If you click it, you see the files from the D drive, but they take up no space on C.
If you are using a reference manager (like Zotero, Mendeley, or Paperpile) and your hard drive is full: windows symlink folder
Instead of navigating \\Server\Shared\Departments\Finance\Reports\2025\Q1 , create a symlink on your desktop:
mklink /D "C:\Users\YourName\Downloads" "D:\Downloads" "You need to use a symlink," he said
Alex smiled. "You need to use a symlink," he said.
Get-Item "C:\SomeFolder" | Select-Object LinkType, Target Now go forth and link responsibly
The problem was that John needed to access the project folder from both his main workstation and his laptop, but he didn't want to have to constantly copy the folder back and forth between the two machines. He also didn't want to have to move the original folder to a shared drive, as that would slow down his workflow.
Now go forth and link responsibly.
"A symlink, short for symbolic link," Alex explained. "It's like a shortcut, but it's a folder that points to another folder. That way, you can access the project folder from multiple places without having to copy it."