title: Internet Shortcut IDList value decoding
body: <p>I have been trying to find any information on a value that is stored in an url shortcut that is generated from MS-Office for SharePoint Libraries. We are moving away from Office 2007 to Office 365 and the feature of 2007 that creates these links doesn't appear to be available in Office 365.</p>
  
  <p>If a .url file doesn't have the IDList value when you click on it in a save-as dialog it changes the file name to the shortcut. I tried changing the .url to .lnk but non-office applications can't handle them.</p>
  
  <p>Contents of .url file</p>
  
  <pre><code>[InternetShortcut]
  IDList=UAwHYBGLNCi66kGEieNCAsCMw0pTAMcAlzFXj9mZr5yalx2b35WYuMWYcRUY2d1VXJ1bvRHAXVmYgMEbpVmb0BiTlR3dvJ3aAgGd0BnOv8yYvZ2ausWZs92duFmLjFGAuAATAEDAAAAAAAAAAAAEAQXZh12cAgDAIAABA8uvAAAAAAAAAAgKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA8gPuuBAAAAAAAQHAlBQYA0GAzBAAAQBAKBQMAAAAAAAAAAAAQAQZk12cAAgNAgAAEAw7+CAAAAAAAAAAqAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQZAQGAtBwcAAAAUAAAAA
  URL=file://blart/DavWWWRoot/teams/edms
  IconFile=C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Office\SharePointTeamSite.ico
  IconIndex=0
  [{000214A0-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
  Prop3=19,9
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Same user regenerated file</p>
  
  <pre><code>IDList=UAwHYBGLNCi66kGEieNCAsCMw0pTAMcAlzFXj9mZr5yalx2b35WYuMWYcRUY2d1VXJ1bvRHAXVmYgMEbpVmb0BiTlR3dvJ3aAgGd0BnOv8yYvZ2ausWZs92duFmLjFGAuAATAEDAAAAAAAAAAAAEAQXZh12cAgDAIAABA8uvAAAAAAAAAAgKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA0baRNAAAAAAAAQHAlBQYA0GAzBAAAQBAKBQMAAAAAAAAAAAAQAQZk12cAAgNAgAAEAw7+CAAAAAAAAAAqAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQZAQGAtBwcAAAAUAAAAA
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Value from a file from another user</p>
  
  <pre><code>IDList=UAwHYBGLNCi66kGEieNCAsCMw0pTAMcAlzFXj9mZr5yalx2b35WYuMWYcRUY2d1VXJ1bvRHAXVmYgMEbpVmb0BiTlR3dvJ3aAgGd0BnOv8yYvZ2ausWZs92duFmLjFGAuAATAEDAAAAAAAAAAAAEAQXZh12cAgDAIAABA8uvAAAAAAAAAAgKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA4BZpCAAAAAAAAQHAlBQYA0GAzBAAAQBAKBQMAAAAAAAdHBlfQAQZk12cAAgNAgAAEAw7+qXQJdJdHBlfqAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQZAQGAtBwcAAAAUAAAAA
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have not been able to figure out how to decode this value or have I been able to figure out what data is being stored in it. I have read through a bunch of different ways to create shortcuts programmatically with Windows scripting and shell 32 in Powershell and C# wrappers, C++ looking for any info. The only glimmer of hope I have is that shell links also have an item id list of pidl's, but I can't confirm if this is related.</p>
  
  <p>What I do know is that the IDList can be moved to another .url and it will take you to the original path. There are some sections of the IDList that change depending on the user who created them and or when the url files are recreated.</p>
  
  <p>Internet shortcuts
  <a href="https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb776784(v=vs.85).aspx" rel="noreferrer">https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb776784(v=vs.85).aspx</a></p>
  
  <p>Shell link
  <a href="https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd891312.aspx" rel="noreferrer">https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd891312.aspx</a></p>