Search for broken document links
Sarah Sheehan
We'll upload docs then refer to those documents in announcements, postings, etc. Sometimes later one of us will update that document and not know where the links may reside so those links to the old version of that doc are just broken until we hear complaints.
Is it possible to find all "broken links" or perhaps search for the name of the document across pages so we can get a clue of where to look to update the link?
Log In
Meredith Owens
The replacement feature we recently released will assist in avoiding broken links to documents, which should help prevent this issue in the future! However, it is possible that someone could inadvertently break a link by "replacing" a document by deleting and re-uploading it instead of using our new replacement feature. Therefore, we can see how having a way to find broken links would be beneficial.
We'll keep this post open to continue to receive feedback from our users!
Meredith Owens
Merged in a post:
Find backlinks
John Howard
This may be obvious, but maybe I've missed it. If we create a version of a document, and there are links built to it from various parts of the web portal, if we want to replace it with a later version, how do we find all the incoming links (backlinks), which we will now have to recreate? Alternatively, if this can't be done, can we have a document REPLACE function?
Meredith Owens
We recently released the ability to replace files uploaded to "Documents" pages and single document pages from the Admin Portal! When replaced, the URL will not be changed, ensuring any links to the document continue to work.
More information about these changes can be found below:
J
Jim Gach
I like this idea as well. We have similar situations when it becomes necessary to update a PDF document uploaded to the site and it will break all links to the revised document. This is a problem, especially when in reality the revision to the PDF many be very small, but breaking the links creates a bigger problem.
D
Denise Titus
Agree, I've been going through our website updating external links this morning.
Jacquie Roberts
Absolutely agree with this! This search feature would be a highly useful resource and tool for site administrators to have.
Denise Richards
That would be extremely useful!
And related is that if the name of a document or folder changed it won’t break any links to it.
Meredith Owens
Denise Richards: Thank you for letting us know you're interested in this feature request! Also, if you change the name of a document, "Documents" page, or single document page, that won't change the URL. Therefore, that link shouldn't break!
J
John Fritsche
Fully agree. Our website is full of both internal and external links and I don't want to spend time regularly testing all these links...or have somebody inform me of a broken link. Thanks for bringing up this topic.
Mike Wish
I would add that instead of backlinks, it might be helpful if HOA Express would expose some sort of Media Library where we can see and manage existing files and replace files in the same URL so that backlinks are not affected. Page URLs would be helpful to manage also.
Meredith Owens
We are open to looking into this. However, it would be challenging to develop, as there are dozens of places where a link to a document could be posted (page text, forum posts, survey intros, online payment descriptions, etc.). Therefore, this post will need to receive quite a bit of traction for us to consider this further.
In the meantime, there are tools you can use to help you find broken links on the website. However, those would likely only work for public pages.
Janelle Miner
Meredith Owens: As suggested in the previous comments, if you just created a document "replace" feature that didn't change the link, you wouldn't have to worry about all the different places where documents live.
Meredith Owens
Janelle Miner: Links to files are tied to the page where they’re uploaded. Therefore, by moving it to another page, that would break any previous links. I'm afraid adding a “replace” feature wouldn’t change the page the document was uploaded to, so it wouldn’t change its URL in that way.
John Schlitter
Meredith Owens: What about a "search" for links on pages. I can see how ugly it could get if an Association's site goes through a layout overhaul with pages renamed, replacement documents, etc. At least you could see what pages have links that might need updating.
Meredith Owens
John Schlitter: Thank you for sharing this suggestion! That is something we could consider.
In the meantime, you can use a third-party “broken link checker” tool. Some browser-extension-based broken link checkers may be able to work with private pages on your website, as well. You could also temporarily lift restrictions on pages, run a tool, and then re-add restrictions afterward.
John Schlitter
Meredith Owens: The problem is finding the pages with links. the broken link checker you described assumes you already know what pages had links. I'm suggesting a search that lists the pages containing links and show the links. Imagine changing, renaming, or deleting a page, a file, a folder and wondering what other pages (created long ago by others) pointed to it.
Load More
→