Pages with '-2' or '-3' etc...

Question

I have pages with '-2' or '-3' etc... in the URL even when no other page exists with that same name.

We do not have the option to remove the '-2' as it is appearing only URL and not the page name in Canvas

As a company they dont want '-2' in the URL.

Can these pages be edited to remove the '-2' etc.. from the URL.

Chris · Accepted Answer

Hi @martinfinn,

This is related to the Sept 16 2023 Canvas release.  The release includes an enhancement where page links are retained when pages are renamed so that links in a course do not break when a page is renamed.  Basically, if you create a page named "hello", then rename it to "goodbye" and create a new page with the name "hello", that new page would have a url ending of /hello-#, because /hello is reserved to redirect over to /goodbye.  This might be the one downside to what is otherwise a very welcome change by most Canvas users.  I don't think there is a way to undo this, short of resetting the entire course and starting over again.

Hope this at least explains why this is happening, even though it may not resolve the issue of you wanting to remove the numbers form the URLs.

-Chris

Chris_Hofer · Accepted Answer

@martinfinn ...

I wanted to add to what @chriscas has shared with you.  I recently read an explanation from one of Instructure's employees about this topic...which you can find here:

Re: Features Q&A: Canvas Release Notes (2023-09-16... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)

I hope it will also help in some way.