Understanding link behavior? (dynamic, web link, anchors)

[Michelle Rau HP]

Hi, I'm hoping to confirm my understanding of link behavior depending on what kind of link it is. We had a server update which changed our URL and some links updated automagically and others did not. (This means of course hundreds of broken links.)

If the URL changes (for example from ABC.domain.com to XYZ.domain.com),

• Dynamic links will update automatically. These are links to the page itself, not to anything in it.
• Web links will NOT update automatically, they are "hard-coded."
• Links to an anchor on a page, or links to an anchor on another page, will NOT update automatically, they are "hard-coded."

Is my understanding correct? I want to make sure I've got this right as I start teaching others to use dynamic links whenever possible. Thanks!

[Diego · Accepted solution]

Hello @Michelle Rau HP. Your understanding of links is extremely on point! I have an older thread of mine that can assist you:

• [Atlassian Community] Links broken after server rename

Using Soft links is indeed a good idea. This can save time in the future! If you want a quick, but a somewhat complex, way of fixing broken links you can take a look here:

• [Confluence Server] Confluence - How to Validate Links

I hope this helps you, Michelle! Looking forward to your reply.

[Michelle Rau HP]

Thank you for confirming! This will inform my link-fixing strategy.

When feasible, I suggest running a report to find URLs that may be exceptions to the rule before mass-changing in the database. In our case, I noticed for example a URL to a site like,

Cheese.ABC.domain.com  which was still the correct URL.

If we had search-and-replaced that with Cheese.XYZ.domain.com that URL would have been broken.

[Diego]

Glad to be of help, Michelle!

Thanks for sharing this insight with us! Come collaborate with the community again.