Methods and apparatus are provided for supporting text-based context links for application programs. In some embodiments, an application executing on a first computer system may receive a request to open a context link to a text element in a document. The application may determine, based on a list of context links, whether more than one data object is associated with the text element. If so, a list of data objects associated with the text element and distinguishing information may be displayed, a selection of a data object from the displayed list may be received, and a selection of an action relating to a context link for the selected data object may be received. In some embodiments, the context link list is created by parsing a document into text elements at the first computer, storing entries representing a plurality of text elements on a list, and transmitting the list to a second computer to determine in the second computer if the text elements are associated with data objects. In some embodiments, before transmitting a data element to a second computer to determine an association with a data object, a software cache is checked to determine if the text element has already been transmitted, with text elements removed from the software cache if the software cache is larger than a threshold amount.