WiscWeb - Flushing permalinks

Flushing WordPress permalinks is a process that refreshes a website's URL structure. Permalinks must be flushed whenever enabling a new post type or taxonomy. This document will walk you through how to perform this action.

Diagnosing the issue

The UW Theme has a few built-in post types: 

  • Fac/staff bios
  • Documents

Additionally, the WiscWeb team makes other post types available via plugins:

  • UW Content Sharing
  • UW Events
  • UW Publications

When creating a post of a new post type for the first time, the WordPress software may not know how to structure its URL, and the page may display a Page Not Found error. 

Updating the permalinks structure

Performing the steps below will clear the currently saved URL structure and cause WordPress to regenerate the URLs and resolve the Page Not Found error. 

  1. From your WordPress Dashboard sidebar, find the Settings menu and select Permalinks.



  2. On the Permalinks page, click Save Changes. There are no additional actions needed. Clicking the Save Changes button is all you need to do to trigger WordPress to flush and regenerate the permalinks.



  3. After flushing your website's permalinks, you may not see the changes take effect until you clear your browser cache or perform a hard refresh. See below for instructions for taking these additional actions.

How to perform a hard refresh

This process will force the browser to load the most recent changes to the page and ignore any saved/cached files. 

  • Windows/Linux: Hold down the Ctrl key and press the F5 key on the keyboard
  • Mac: Hold down Command and Shift keys and press R on the keyboard

How to clear your browser cache

This process will wipe the cookies and files your browser saves. Clearing the cache will force the browser to load the most recent changes to the page. It will also log you out of any currently logged-in websites. 



KeywordsWordPress, permalink, child theme, UW theme, custom post type, custom taxonomy, taxonomy, post type, fac/staff, faculty, staff, page not found, events, publications, posts, documents   Doc ID73666
OwnerJenna K.GroupWiscWeb
Created2017-05-30 16:43:59Updated2024-02-01 14:19:30
SitesDoIT Help Desk, WiscWeb
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