This plugin hasn’t been tested with the latest three major releases of WordPress. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress.

External Permalinks Redux

Description

Allows users to point WordPress objects (posts, pages, custom post types) to a URL of their choosing, which is particularly useful for injecting non-WordPress content into loops. The object appears normally in any loop output, but visitors to the object will be redirected to the specified URL. The plugin also allows you to choose the type of redirect, either temporary (302), or permanent (301).

Through a filter, the External Permalinks Redux meta box can easily be added to custom post types. There is also a function available for use with WordPress’ add_meta_box function.

This plugin was originally written for use on WordPress.com VIP. It is inspired by and backwards-compatible with Mark Jaquith’s Page Links To plugin, meaning users can switch between plugins without risk of losing any existing external links.

This plugin is translation-ready.

Screenshots

  • The metabox provided for the Classic Editor.
  • The sidebar plugin provided for the Block Editor.

Installation

  1. Upload external-permalinks-redux.php to /wp-content/plugins/.
  2. Activate plugin through the WordPress Plugins menu.

FAQ

How can I add support for my custom post type?

Using the epr_post_types filter, one can modify the default array of object types (post and page) to include additional custom post types or remove the plugin from one of the default post types.

What other filters does this plugin include?

  • epr_meta_key_target – modify the meta key associated with the external URL
  • epr_meta_key_type – modify the meta key associated with the redirect type
  • epr_status_codes – modify array of available status codes used when redirect is issued

Reviews

1 May 2017
This plugin does almost exactly what I need out of the box, but I wanted for the URL redirect to go to a new page/tab. Turns out that was easier than I expected. I just had to add the target=”_blank” to my content.php file in my child theme. Thank you for saving me a LOT of time!
28 March 2017
Simple yet easy functionality – this is exactly what I was looking for. I was thinking about writing this type of plugin myself, because we have a bunch of content on other parts of our domain outside of wordpress. But this plugin came up in the search, and I couldn’t have written it better myself! Works like a charm!
Read all 3 reviews

Contributors and Developers

“External Permalinks Redux” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

Change Log

1.3.2

  • Fix translations when plugin is used with older WordPress versions.

1.3.1

  • Fix translations in block editor.

1.3

  • Introduce block-editor (Gutenberg) sidebar component for supported post types..

1.2

  • Introduce get_redirect_data() method to look up a post ID’s redirect.
  • Introduce PHPUnit tests
  • Conform to current VIP Go Coding Standards.

1.1

  • Introduce a filter to change the metabox title for clarity. Does break translation for that string if used.
  • Add additional HTML classes in the metabox to aid customization.
  • Coding standards and PHPDoc cleanup.

1.0.4

  • Implement singleton pattern for instantiation. Thanks batmoo.

1.0.3

  • Increase priority of init action to ensure that the filters it contains are available to other plugins. Thanks batmoo.

1.0.2

  • Add status codes filter. Thanks danielbachhuber.
  • Correct translation string implementation, removing variable name.
  • Miscellaneous cleanup, such as whitespace removal.

1.0.1

  • Add shortcut function for registering meta box on custom post types. This is included as an alternative to the epr_post_types filter discussed in the FAQ.

1.0

  • Initial release in WordPress.org repository.
  • Rewrote original WordPress.com VIP plugin into a class and added support for custom post types.