How do you enable short names in Plone?

By default Plone 2.1.x generates short names for you based on the title of your document, folder, etc in the same manner https://kb.ucla.edu does.

For example, if you create a document with a title called “Plone is Great” the short name becomes “plone-is-great”. You can disable this and also allow users to choose their own short names by selecting it in Plone as admin via Site Setup → Portal Settings and selecting “yes” for the option "Show “Short Name” on Content?"

Each user must also enable this option.

To enable this options for each member of your Plone site, simply click on the “Preferences” link located at the bottom of the page and select “Personal Preference.” Scroll down and locate “Allow editing of Short Names” and check the box. hit save.

If you’re the admin and would like to give your managers permission without having to remind them to change their preferences, click on the same “Preferences” link. Then look to the left navigation menu and click on “Users and Groups Administration.” The names of your users should show up. Click on the names of the users whom you’ve assigned as managers. Scroll down and locate “Allow editing of Short Names” and check the box. hit save.