# How can I create a redirect for a non-content file?

**URL:** <https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/how-can-i-create-a-redirect-for-a-non-content-file/5592>\
**Category:** support\
**Created:** [February 25, 2017, 3:55am UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/how-can-i-create-a-redirect-for-a-non-content-file/5592 "2017-02-25T03:55:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 13\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![raxod502](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/raxod502/32/2725_2.png) [@raxod502](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/raxod502)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 3:55am UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/how-can-i-create-a-redirect-for-a-non-content-file/5592/1 "2017-02-25T03:55:31Z")

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I am transferring my WordPress site to Hugo; as such, I need to set up a bunch of redirects so that people don’t end up with dead links.

The posts are easy; I can add aliases to the front matter. But I also have static files (PDFs) whose URLs have changed. As far as I can tell, Hugo has no native support for aliasing non-`content` files: [https://discuss.gohugo.io/t/url-redirect-forwarding/4689/7](https://discuss.gohugo.io/t/url-redirect-forwarding/4689/7)

Nevertheless, I need to set up redirects. I could just put them in `static/.htaccess` but then I have no way of testing them, since `hugo server` does not respect `.htaccess`. Creating 20 copies of an HTML redirect page and putting them at the old URLs is beyond silly.

What is the proper way to make redirects?

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**Author:** ![magikstm](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/magikstm/32/2412_2.png) [@magikstm](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/magikstm)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 8:41am UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/how-can-i-create-a-redirect-for-a-non-content-file/5592/2 "2017-02-25T08:41:40Z")

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I would use a .htaccess file.

If files retain their names one line should handle all files that need to be redirected.

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**Author:** ![raxod502](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/raxod502/32/2725_2.png) [@raxod502](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/raxod502)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/how-can-i-create-a-redirect-for-a-non-content-file/5592/3 "2017-02-25T17:31:52Z")

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Thank you for the suggestion. Is there any way to test these redirects locally? As I said, it does not seem like `hugo server` respects `.htaccess`.

(Files do not retain their names or paths, as a side note, but I am fine with specifying each redirect by hand.)

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**Author:** ![magikstm](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/magikstm/32/2412_2.png) [@magikstm](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/magikstm)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 6:02pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/how-can-i-create-a-redirect-for-a-non-content-file/5592/4 "2017-02-25T18:02:17Z")

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If you have a local or staging server with apache you could test it there.

Otherwise, I would suggest installing a different vhost in production to test it.

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**Author:** ![rdwatters](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/rdwatters/32/2848_2.png) [@rdwatters](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/rdwatters)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/how-can-i-create-a-redirect-for-a-non-content-file/5592/5 "2017-02-25T19:07:34Z")

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> [@raxod502](#):
>
> Thank you for the suggestion. Is there any way to test these redirects locally? As I said, it does not seem like hugo server respects .htaccess.

Very true. `hugo server` is a golang server and not Apache, although the directory structure makes it really easy to add your `.htaccess` to `static/.htaccess` so that it’s there at deployment (as you already mentioned 😄).

If you want to test locally, the only way I can think of would be to build the site (running `hugo`), change directories into the built site (`public/`) and then run an Apache server from there? This is all spitballing:

[Installing Apache, PHP, and MySQL on Mac OS X El Capitan](https://jason.pureconcepts.net/2015/10/install-apache-php-mysql-mac-os-x-el-capitan/) if you’re on a mac.

Question: Were all the PDFs in the _ **same** _ directory, btw? If so, maybe just create the same URL structure within static and drop the PDFs into the corresponding folder.

HTH.

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**Author:** ![raxod502](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/raxod502/32/2725_2.png) [@raxod502](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/raxod502)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 7:21pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/how-can-i-create-a-redirect-for-a-non-content-file/5592/6 "2017-02-25T19:21:08Z")

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If I am using `.htaccess`, I think you are right that running a local non-`hugo` server is the most appropriate course of action. I’ll look into that.

> [@rdwatters](#):
>
> Question: Were all the PDFs in the same directory, btw? If so, maybe just create the same URL structure within static and drop the PDFs into the corresponding folder.

The PDFs (and, in general, other types of files) were originally all in `/files`. Now they have been moved to the root directory of the published site, and some of them have been renamed. I’m not sure I understand what you are suggesting—I need the old URL redirected to the new location, not a second copy of my files at the old location.

But perhaps the most elegant solution would just be to add another step to my build process that manually generates 301 redirect pages in the right places, if Hugo can’t do it for me. I was just surprised that this was not supported, since I figured it would be a common task. Am I misunderstanding the intended purpose of the alias feature?

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![rdwatters](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/rdwatters/32/2848_2.png) [@rdwatters](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/rdwatters)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/how-can-i-create-a-redirect-for-a-non-content-file/5592/7 "2017-02-25T20:49:13Z")

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> [@raxod502](#):
>
> The PDFs (and, in general, other types of files) were originally all in /files. Now they have been moved to the root directory of the published site, and some of them have been renamed. I’m not sure I understand what you are suggesting—I need the old URL redirected to the new location, not a second copy of my files at the old location.

Yeah, I should have expanded a bit on that thought. Basically, I was going to suggested that if the anchors to the docs within your pages, and your baseURL were staying the same, why not just do the simplest thing and drag and drop all of your PDFs to `static/files/` and call it a day. That said…

1. If you have renamed PDFs, you’re going to have to do something server-sideish anyways
2. If you have changed your baseURL, that’s another matter

Sorry I can’t be of more help, but I will say that to date I haven’t found a static site generator with any kind of document management functionality (for obvious reasons). Please let me know if you figure out a good solution, since I currently use Hugo for an internal-only company website, and my company can be a bit PDF-crazy (much to my chagrin 😉). Cheers.

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**Author:** ![raxod502](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/raxod502/32/2725_2.png) [@raxod502](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/raxod502)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 9:07pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/how-can-i-create-a-redirect-for-a-non-content-file/5592/8 "2017-02-25T21:07:02Z")

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Thanks. I figure that I _must_ be misunderstanding something fundamental here, since I can’t see how it wouldn’t be trivial for Hugo to support this. Here is what I am thinking.

In the `config.toml`, you can set simple path redirects:

```auto
[[redirects]]
  old = "/files/MyOldPath.pdf"
  new = "/MyNewPath.pdf"

[[redirects]]
  old = "/cgi-bin/assets/img0013.png"
  new = "/images/version-control-with-git.png"

```

Then, at each of the `old` paths, a simple HTML page with an `http-equiv` redirect is generated in `public`, which will point to the corresponding `new` path.

Is the problem that it’s impossible to serve that HTML template to the browser when the requested URL ends in `.pdf`, without server-side configuration? Otherwise I can’t see what would be wrong with this.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rdwatters](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/rdwatters/32/2848_2.png) [@rdwatters](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/rdwatters)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 9:14pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/how-can-i-create-a-redirect-for-a-non-content-file/5592/9 "2017-02-25T21:14:36Z")

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> [@raxod502](#):
>
> Is the problem that it’s impossible to serve that HTML template to the browser when the requested URL ends in .pdf, without server-side configuration? Otherwise I can’t see what would be wrong with this.

That’s a very good question that I would have to punt to the maintainers and collaborators of Hugo. That said, you _could_ try using an [alias](https://gohugo.io/extras/aliases/), but I think that’s kind of missing the point, since (I’m assuming) you’re not using the Hugo server in production…and it’s really only for HTML pages…and what it actually renders is [explained in detail in the Hugo docs](https://gohugo.io/extras/aliases/#how-hugo-aliases-work).

> [@raxod502](#):
>
> What is the proper way to make redirects?

This is really the tough question, since the only answer is “301s”, which is a server-related endeavor, right? At least w/r/t SEO

Hugo is only responsible for _generating_ content files (namely, HTML, but also other content-ish files…images are another story).

To make it easier, why don’t you tell me following in an example and I can tell you if my brain droppings are even worth explaining:

1. The full URL of a PDF on your Wordpress site
2. The full URL you want for the PDF on your new website

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**Author:** ![raxod502](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/raxod502/32/2725_2.png) [@raxod502](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/raxod502)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 11:21pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/how-can-i-create-a-redirect-for-a-non-content-file/5592/10 "2017-02-25T23:21:35Z")

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> [@rdwatters](#):
>
> That said, you _could_ try using an alias

Exactly! Aliases work great for HTML pages in `content` (you just specify the aliases in the front matter), but they aren’t currently supported for other types of pages. My idea would be to just put the front-matter alias declarations in `config.toml`, because you can’t put them in a PDF file.

To reiterate, the alias system is _exactly_ what I wanted originally, except that it’s not supported for all filetypes. That, to me, is an surprising inconsistency regardless of whether or not aliases are the right approach for my problem (which I am beginning to suspect they are not—doing 301 redirects is obviously server-side, and you have a valid point that I should probably be doing my redirects on the server side).

> [@rdwatters](#):
>
> To make it easier, why don’t you tell me following in an example and I can tell you if my brain droppings are even worth explaining:
> 
> 1. The full URL of a PDF on your Wordpress site
> 2. The full URL you want for the PDF on your new website

As a concrete example, I used to have a file at

```plaintext
https://intuitiveexplanations.com/files/IntuitiveExplanations.pdf

```

which now lives at

```plaintext
https://intuitiveexplanations.com/CalculusIntuitiveExplanations.pdf

```

and I need to set up a redirect.

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**Author:** ![rdwatters](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/rdwatters/32/2848_2.png) [@rdwatters](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/rdwatters)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 11:26pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/how-can-i-create-a-redirect-for-a-non-content-file/5592/11 "2017-02-25T23:26:51Z")

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Okay, so, if you have _all_ your PDFs in a single directory, why not just put _all_ the PDFs in `static/files` in your Hugo directory structure? Then any references to these PDFs will not break. Does that make sense?

Everything in _static_ is moved over as is…

**Example with [mysite.com](http://mysite.com)**

I have a pdf at `static/files/CalculusIntuitiveExplanations.pdf`.

When I build my site with Hugo, that pdf can be accessed at…

`mysite.com/files/CalculusIntuitiveExplanations.pdf`

Then the links in your WP site pages, assuming they’re all from the root (I have _no idea_ how you built that site or how you’re transferring it over), would just _work_.

But if you changed the _file_ names of the PDFs, that’s different. OR if the PDFs are living in _more than one directory_, that’s also a different story…

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**Author:** ![raxod502](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/raxod502/32/2725_2.png) [@raxod502](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/raxod502)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 11:37pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/how-can-i-create-a-redirect-for-a-non-content-file/5592/12 "2017-02-25T23:37:40Z")

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I see the confusion. Sorry I wasn’t clear earlier. The reason I need to set up redirects is because I want to _change_ the URL structure. On my Wordpress site it was `/files/IntuitiveExplanations.pdf`. Now that I am transferring my website to Hugo, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to reconsider my URL structure; and purely for reasons of vanity I decided that I liked the URL `/CalculusIntuitiveExplanations.pdf` better. If I just wanted to recreate the old URL structure, it would be trivial, as you said, to just put the old files in `static` under the old names and paths.

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**Author:** ![rdwatters](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/rdwatters/32/2848_2.png) [@rdwatters](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/rdwatters)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 7:29am UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/how-can-i-create-a-redirect-for-a-non-content-file/5592/13 "2017-02-26T07:29:08Z")

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Gotcha. Then yes, as @magikstm mentioned, that’s a one-liner in `.htaccess`…or just let go of the vanity and keep `files` in all your links to the PDFs…😉 Cheers.