Title: changing permalink format Last modified: August 19, 2016 --- # changing permalink format * Resolved [visual mechanics](https://wordpress.org/support/users/visual-mechanics/) * (@visual-mechanics) * [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/) * i have permalinks settings in the “ugly” format and i want to change them to a pertty format as described in the how to section of this. what i don’t understand is how to set up the new file strings. * for instance i have a category called “pools” and want all the posts with that category name to be moved into an archive pools with the file string resembling category/pools/… and so forth. * i am not sure if this will resolve how the category archives display. right now they display as abbreviated title only posts when the archive category is clicked on. I would like it to resolve to showing all the posts in full display per category and date archive. is this possible? * how do i go about setting this up and is it possible once the blog is already in place? * thanks in advance. Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 22 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/page/2/?output_format=md) * [Okoth1](https://wordpress.org/support/users/okoth1/) * (@okoth1) * [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/#post-1500733) * In the Admin area go to Settings –> Permalinks. Choose the last option and in the box behind it fill in * /%category%/%postname%/ * Your link looks like: domain.com/pools/postname/ * Thread Starter [visual mechanics](https://wordpress.org/support/users/visual-mechanics/) * (@visual-mechanics) * [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/#post-1500735) * that’s all? what happens to posts that were originally broadcast in the ugly format? * Moderator [James Huff](https://wordpress.org/support/users/macmanx/) * (@macmanx) * [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/#post-1500744) * WordPress automatically handles the 301 (permanent) redirects involving the old URLs. * Thread Starter [visual mechanics](https://wordpress.org/support/users/visual-mechanics/) * (@visual-mechanics) * [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/#post-1500764) * if i have several categories pools, stripmalls, skateparks, etc? can i create archive directories for these? * pardon the questions, i just need to understand this in laymans terms before embarking on this. * thanks. * Moderator [James Huff](https://wordpress.org/support/users/macmanx/) * (@macmanx) * [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/#post-1500766) * I’m not sure what you mean by “archive directories”. * [weirdnews](https://wordpress.org/support/users/weirdnews/) * (@weirdnews) * [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/#post-1500793) * If you would like to be found in google news you can set your custome permalinks to /%year%%monthnum%%day%%hour%/%category%/%postname%-%post_id% as google news looks for the 3 digit ending. * Also if you do have trouble with “page not found 404 errors” I use plugins seo ultimate which tracks any 404 error then I use Redirection plugin and copy the dead link from the seo 404 and then place the new url both into redirection for 301. Also use webmaster tools so you can stay up on any 404s google may have and add those and their good links to your redirection plugin. Now you do not suffer any losses 😉 * WP does have a built in 301 redirection but I have found it doesn’t work with many templates and themes. * [haydenhancock](https://wordpress.org/support/users/haydenhancock/) * (@haydenhancock) * [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/#post-1500804) * [@visual](https://wordpress.org/support/users/visual/) mechanics, * You can utilize the conditional tags in your archive.php to display information specific to each category. * Or you can create category-[x].php files for specific categories (where [x] is your category name). * Thread Starter [visual mechanics](https://wordpress.org/support/users/visual-mechanics/) * (@visual-mechanics) * [16 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/#post-1500906) * @ macmanx, by directories i mean archives (or folders for lack of a better word) per category. the user wants the ability to be able to click on a category in the sidebar and load all of the posts related in full view, not just the links for each post as the default settings function. * this is an example of how the archives should load. * [http://readymade.com/blogs/culture](http://readymade.com/blogs/culture) * inside this blog when you click on the music archives in the sidebar on the lower right of the page they roll out like this… * [http://readymade.com/blogs/culture/category/music/](http://readymade.com/blogs/culture/category/music/) * still trying to wrap my head around this, and concerned that when i switch the permalinks to to a new structure the blog is gonna get all messed up. * ??thanks, rob * Thread Starter [visual mechanics](https://wordpress.org/support/users/visual-mechanics/) * (@visual-mechanics) * [16 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/#post-1500983) * can anyone advise how and what i need to do to get these permalinks reconfigured so my posts are archived into literal strings? * thanks * Moderator [James Huff](https://wordpress.org/support/users/macmanx/) * (@macmanx) * [16 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/#post-1501001) * I guess I must be misunderstanding, because when I go to [http://readymade.com/blogs/culture/category/music/](http://readymade.com/blogs/culture/category/music/) I see full posts, not “just the links for each post” that you mentioned. Were you able to resolve the issue? * Thread Starter [visual mechanics](https://wordpress.org/support/users/visual-mechanics/) * (@visual-mechanics) * [16 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/#post-1501004) * No I haven’t been able to resolve this. * If you go to [http://readymade.com/blogs/culture](http://readymade.com/blogs/culture) and scroll down to the archive links on the right hand side of the page click on any of the categories. * for instance the archive for “art” [http://readymade.com/blogs/culture/category/art/](http://readymade.com/blogs/culture/category/art/) * in here all of the entries are previewed in full. this is what i am trying to resolve on my blog. when you click a category link on my blog it goes to a page the says “category archives: pools” with the entry titles. from there you have to click on a individual link rather than simply scrolling and previewing the entries in their entirety. * does this make sense? * thanks * Moderator [James Huff](https://wordpress.org/support/users/macmanx/) * (@macmanx) * [16 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/#post-1501006) * Oh, so this is for a different blog. More than likely, your blog is using `the_excerpt` to display content in the category template. This only displays part of the post. You’ll want to use `the_content` instead. See these for more info: * [http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/the_content](http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/the_content) * [http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/the_excerpt](http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/the_excerpt) * Thread Starter [visual mechanics](https://wordpress.org/support/users/visual-mechanics/) * (@visual-mechanics) * [16 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/#post-1501007) * where do i put this code? correction…. is this the code i substitute for?? * * there was another detail regarding if need to display all of the content (which I want to do) * * am i on the right track, if so what php file do I swap this code into? * thanks * Moderator [James Huff](https://wordpress.org/support/users/macmanx/) * (@macmanx) * [16 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/#post-1501008) * Look in your category template for a php tag that mentions “the_excerpt” and replace it with your tag. * Yes, you’re on the right track. * Thread Starter [visual mechanics](https://wordpress.org/support/users/visual-mechanics/) * (@visual-mechanics) * [16 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/#post-1501009) * the categories.php file within the wp-admin folder? the only file i can find named such. however, no mention of a tag in there containing the_excerpt Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 22 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/page/2/?output_format=md) The topic ‘changing permalink format’ is closed to new replies. * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/) * 22 replies * 5 participants * Last reply from: [James Huff](https://wordpress.org/support/users/macmanx/) * Last activity: [16 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-permalink-format/page/2/#post-1501020) * Status: resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics