Commonly referred to as "shortcuts" or "link files", both are displayed with a curled arrow overlay icon by default, and no filename extension.
Although shortcuts, when created, point to specific files or folders, they may break if the target is moved to another location.
If the latter parameter is not entered, attempting to use the shortcut for some programs may generate "missing DLL" errors not present when the application is accessed directly.
[4] Beginning with Windows 7, some shortcuts also store Application User Model IDs (AppUserModelIDs).
Shortcuts with AppUserModelIDs are used by some desktop programs and all WinRT Modern/Universal Windows Platform apps for launching.
The format of these configuration files follows the 'desktop entry' specification by freedesktop.org, and besides the location of the program they can provide an icon, a tooltip and other details.
A file type called "alias" was introduced in Macintosh System 7; it tracks information like inode number to handle moves.
In Mac OS X, the names of aliases are no longer italicized, but the arrow badge remains.
Additionally, an alias retains its dynamic reference to an object and does not have to be specified even when calling files on remote servers.
The concept of disassociating the executable from the icon representing an instruction to perform a task associated with that file or executable so that they may be grouped by function or task rather than physical organisation in the file structure was first described in the research paper "A Task Oriented Front End For The Windows Graphical User Interface", by Mike Roberts, published in 1991 by Kingston University and presented to both Microsoft and Xerox EuroPARC that same year under an academia/business technology sharing agreement.
[citation needed] A simplified form of this research was incorporated into System 7 in 1991, and four years later into Windows 95.