---
title: Configuring redirects
shortTitle: Configure redirects
intro: 'If an article''s title, version, or location changes, you can create a redirect to the current content.'
versions:
  fpt: '*'
  ghec: '*'
  ghes: '*'
redirect_from:
  - /contributing/syntax-and-versioning-for-github-docs/configuring-redirects
---

## About redirects

If a change is made to an article that affects people's ability to find it, we create a redirect from any outdated versions to the current content. We might need to do this if an article's title is changed, a new version is added, or the location of the file is changed.

Redirects can be configured locally or externally.

## Configuring local redirects

Within the {% data variables.product.prodname_docs %}, you can redirect from one file to another or from one version to another.

### Redirects across files

If you change the name of an article and want its old URL to redirect to its new URL for all versions, use the `redirect_from` frontmatter with the path to the article's old name. If you change the name of an article and want different versions to redirect to different URLs, follow the steps in the [Redirects across versions](#redirects-across-versions) section.

In the following example, the article "All about commits" was renamed to "Creating your first commit." The `redirect_from` frontmatter redirects anyone who navigates to the old article URL to the new article URL.

```yaml
title: Creating your first commit
redirect_from:
  - /content/get-started/all-about-commits
```

See [`redirect_from`](https://github.com/github/docs/blob/main/content/README.md#redirect_from) in the {% data variables.product.prodname_docs %} README file for more details.

### Automatic redirects for URLs that do not include a version

If a URL for a page is entered without a version (`https://docs.github.com/ARTICLE` instead of `https://docs.github.com/VERSION/ARTICLE`), the site will automatically redirect it to the first available version of the page.<!-- markdownlint-disable-line search-replace -->

The order of precedence is specified in [`lib/all-versions.ts`](https://github.com/github/docs/blob/main/src/versions/lib/all-versions.ts). The current order of precedence is:

1. {% data variables.product.prodname_free_team %}, {% data variables.product.prodname_pro %}, or {% data variables.product.prodname_team %} (`fpt`)
1. {% data variables.product.prodname_ghe_cloud %} (`ghec`)
1. {% data variables.product.prodname_ghe_server %} (`ghes`)

If a page titled `ARTICLE` is only available in {% data variables.product.prodname_ghe_cloud %} and {% data variables.product.prodname_ghe_server %}, the link `https://docs.github.com/ARTICLE` will automatically redirect to `https://docs.github.com/enterprise-cloud@latest/ARTICLE` because {% data variables.product.prodname_ghe_cloud %} has precedence over {% data variables.product.prodname_ghe_server %}.<!-- markdownlint-disable-line search-replace -->

If `ARTICLE` is available in Free, Pro, or Team, no redirect will occur because `fpt` pages do not have a version segment, so the `fpt` content at `https://docs.github.com/ARTICLE` will render.<!-- markdownlint-disable-line search-replace -->

### Redirects across versions

If you want the URL for one version of an article to redirect to a URL for another version or to another URL entirely, you must update the [redirect-exceptions.txt](https://github.com/github/docs/blob/main/src/redirects/lib/static/redirect-exceptions.txt) file in the `src/redirects` directory.

For example, if you remove the Free, Pro, or Team (`fpt`) version of an article, the URL will automatically redirect to the next available version of the page. If you want it to redirect to a version that is lower in the order of precedence, or to a different page entirely, you must specify an exception.

Each entry in the `redirect-exceptions` file should start with the path you want to redirect _to_, including the version, followed by an unordered list of the paths you want to redirect _from_. In the following example, the paths in the unordered list will redirect to the {% data variables.product.prodname_ghe_cloud %} version of [AUTOTITLE](/enterprise-cloud@latest/organizations/managing-membership-in-your-organization/exporting-member-information-for-your-organization).

```text
/enterprise-cloud@latest/organizations/managing-membership-in-your-organization/exporting-member-information-for-your-organization
  - /enterprise-server@3.3/organizations/managing-membership-in-your-organization/exporting-member-information-for-your-organization
  - /enterprise-server@3.4/organizations/managing-membership-in-your-organization/exporting-member-information-for-your-organization
  - /enterprise-server@3.5/organizations/managing-membership-in-your-organization/exporting-member-information-for-your-organization
```

## Configuring external redirects

Rarely, content will move outside the {% data variables.product.prodname_docs %} site. For these types of redirects, update the [`external-sites.json`](https://github.com/github/docs/blob/main/src/redirects/lib/external-sites.json) file in the `src/redirects` directory.

Each entry in the `external-sites.json` file is a key value pair where the key is the path to where the content was and the value is the path to where it should redirect.

```json
  "/github-status": "https://www.githubstatus.com/",
  "/articles/github-security": "https://github.com/security",
```