TentmakerHelp

Redirects

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A redirect sends a visitor from an old address to the right page. Use it when you move or rename a page, or when your church had an older website whose links are still in search results, emails and printed bulletins. Without a redirect, those visitors would find a "not found" page.

Only Managers and Owners can open Redirects. It is under Advanced in the left menu.

Redirects

The screen says how many you have, such as "You have 3 of 500." Each redirect in the list shows:

  • Old address: where the visitor starts.
  • Goes to: where they end up.
  • Status: 301 or 302 (explained below).
  • State: On or Off.
  • Buttons: Edit, Turn off or Turn on, and Delete.

If a real page of your site lives at the old address, the list says "A page lives at this address. The redirect hides it." A redirect wins over the page, so check before you add one.

Add a redirect

Under Add a redirect:

  1. Old address: the path on your old site, such as /about/our-pastor. Add /* at the end to cover everything under a path, such as /old-sermons/*.
  2. New address: a page on this site, starting with one slash (/our-pastor), or a full https:// address of another site. For a rule that ends in /*, the new address may end in /* too.
  3. Status: 301, moved for good is right for almost everything. Choose 302, moved for now only for a short-term move.
  4. Note (optional): a reminder to yourself of why it is there.
  5. Press Add the redirect.

Test an address

Under Test an address, type an address and press Test it. Nothing is saved. It tells you what a visitor would get, including whether it would loop.

Paste a list

If you have many, use Paste a list. Write one redirect per line: old address, new address, and if you like a 301 or 302 and a note, separated by commas. For example:

/about/our-pastor,/our-pastor

If any line is wrong, nothing is added, and the screen lists each line with the problem. Fix those lines and paste again.

Turning one off, editing and deleting

  • Turn off keeps the redirect but stops it working. The old address then shows whatever page lives there, or the not found page. It is a good way to test.
  • Edit opens the same form with the current values.
  • Delete asks first.

Limits and rules

  • You can have up to 500 redirects.
  • A redirect cannot make a loop, and a chain of more than 10 redirects in a row is refused. Point the old address straight at the final page.
  • A new address cannot contain a user name, a password or a port number.
  • Visitors always go to an address a Manager or Owner typed. It is never built from what the visitor sent.