Managing redirects

A redirect sends an old Portail ZAPP address to a new one: a visitor who opens /old-page lands automatically on the destination. Use it after an address change, to keep links already shared (bookmarks, emails, documentation) working.

The Redirects screen (menu Administration › Appearance and languages › Redirects) is reserved for Administrators: a badly set redirect can divert visitors.

The redirect list

Each row shows the From path (on this site), the To destination, the Type (301 or 302), the number of Hits (redirects performed) and the Status (Enabled or Disabled; a disabled redirect is greyed out). Row buttons: Edit, Disable or Enable, Delete (after confirmation).

Creating or editing a redirect

New redirect asks for:

• From: a path on this site, for example /old-page. Case, anything after ? or # and the trailing slash do not matter: /Old-Page/ and /old-page are the same source;
• To: a path on the site (/new-page) or a full address (https://…);
• Permanent (301): ticked by default. Unticked, the redirect is temporary (302): search engines do not remember it.

Edit shows the same fields.

A redirect is refused, with a message, when:

• a redirect already exists for this source;
• the source matches an existing page of the application (it would make that page unreachable);
• the source is a reserved path (API, site resources, health check, setup wizard, this screen itself) or the site root;
• source and destination are the same;
• the destination starts with //: it would point off-site. To send visitors to another site, type the full address (https://…).

Good to know

• Only navigation is redirected (opening a page): never a form submission or an API call.
• Whatever follows the ? in the requested address is passed on to the destination, unless the destination already contains a ?.
• Creating, editing or disabling a redirect takes effect at once; if Portail ZAPP runs on several servers, the others follow within a minute.
• Disable keeps the redirect for later; Delete removes it for good.
• Browsers remember a 301 redirect: a visitor who already followed it may keep being redirected after a change. Use a 302 redirect until the destination is final.