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You want to take control of your WordPress site’s URLs? The Custom Permalinks plugin gives you the power to set unique, custom URLs for any post, page, tag, or category. This means you can design your site’s structure exactly how you envision it, rather than being limited by WordPress’s default settings. When you set a custom permalink, the original post URL will be automatically redirected to your new, customized URL.

Key Features

• Individual Permalink Control: Assign unique URLs to any post, page, tag, or category.
• Site Structure Control: Gain ultimate control over how your site’s URLs are organized.
• Post Type Permalink Structures (v3.0.0+): Define custom permalink structures for each public Post Type using predefined tags, automatically generating URLs upon content creation. You can still manually edit any permalink. If left empty, default settings will apply.

Getting Started: Plugin Settings

You can configure Custom Permalinks by navigating to Settings > Custom Permalinks in your WordPress Dashboard.

Available Tags for Permalink Structures

When setting up your custom permalink structures, you can use a variety of tags that will dynamically populate the URL. Here’s a breakdown of what’s available:

• %year%: The year of the post in four digits, eg: 2025
• %monthnum%: Month the post was published, in two digits, eg: 01
• %day%: Day the post was published in two digits, eg: 02
• %hour%: Hour of the day, the post was published, eg: 15
• %minute%: Minute of the hour, the post was published, eg: 43
• %second%: Second of the minute, the post was published, eg: 33
• %post_id%: The unique ID of the post, eg: 123
• %category%: A clean version of the category name (its slug). Nested sub-categories will appear as nested directories in the URL..
• %author%: A sanitized version of the post author’s name.
• %postname%: A clean version of the post or page title (its slug). For example, “This Is A Great Post!” becomes this-is-a-great-post in the URL.
• %parent_postname%: Similar to %postname%, but uses the immediate parent page’s slug if a parent is selected.
• %parents_postnames%: Similar to %postname%, but includes all parent page slugs if parents are selected.
• %title%: The title of the post, converted to a slug. For example, “This Is A Great Post!” becomes this-is-a-great-post. Unlike %postname% which is set once, %title% automatically updates in the permalink if the post title changes (unless the post is published or the permalink is manually edited).
• %ctax_TAXONOMY_NAME%: A clean version of a custom taxonomy’s name. Replace TAXONOMY_NAME with the actual taxonomy name. You can also provide a default slug for when no category/taxonomy is selected by using ?? (e.g., %ctax_type??sales% will use “sales” as a default).
• %ctax_parent_TAXONOMY_NAME%: Similar to %ctax_TAXONOMY_NAME%, but includes the immediate parent category/tag slug in the URL if a parent is selected.
• %ctax_parents_TAXONOMY_NAME%: Similar to %ctax_TAXONOMY_NAME%, but includes all parent category/tag slugs in the URL if parents are selected.
• %custom_permalinks_TAG_NAME%: Developers have the flexibility to define their own custom tags(replace _TAG_NAME with your desired name). To ensure these tags resolve to the correct permalinks, simply apply the custom_permalinks_post_permalink_tag filter.

Important Note: For new posts, Custom Permalinks will keep updating the permalink while the post is in draft mode, assuming a structure is defined in the plugin settings. Once the post is published or its permalink is manually updated, the plugin will stop automatic updates for that specific post.

Custom Permalinks: Fine-Tuning with Filters

Custom Permalinks offers a range of filters that empower developers to precisely control its behavior. You can explore all available filters, complete with example code snippets, in our GitHub repository.

For Assistance:

• Premium Users: If you need assistance implementing these filters, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us via our Premium contact support.
• Other Users: You can also directly reach out to the plugin author via LinkedIn.

Need Help or Found a Bug?

• Support: For one-on-one email support, consider purchasing Custom Permalinks Premium. While some basic support may be provided on the WordPress.org forums, email support is prioritized for premium users.
• Bug Reports: If you encounter a bug, please report it on GitHub. Make sure to provide complete information to reproduce the issue. GitHub is for bug reports, not general support questions.

If you experience any site-breaking issues after upgrading, please report them on the WordPress Forum or GitHub with detailed information. You can always revert to an older version by downloading it from https://wordpress.org/plugins/custom-permalinks/advanced/.

You have two ways to install Custom Permalinks:

From within WordPress

1. Go to Plugins > Add New in your WordPress dashboard.
2. Search for “Custom Permalinks”.
3. Click “Install Now” and then “Activate” the plugin from your Plugins page.

Manually via FTP

1. Download the custom-permalinks folder.
2. Upload the custom-permalinks folder to your /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
3. Activate Custom Permalinks through the “Plugins” menu in your WordPress dashboard.

3.1.1 – Sep 19, 2025

• Bugs:
  • PHP 8.x Warnings Admin
  • Polylang Redirect Issue
  • Lost password link conflict
  • Custom Permalinks is conflicting with Gravity View plugin

3.1.0 – Aug 01, 2025

Permalink Generation:

• Resolved an issue where the custom_permalinks_generate_post_permalink function was creating duplicate permalinks with appended numbers when triggered programmatically. This ensures a unique, clean URL every time.
• Updated the sanitize_text_field function to prevent the truncation of permalink tags, such as %category% and %day%, guaranteeing your custom permalink structure remains intact.

Performance:

• The save_post hook will now only run on public post types. This change prevents unnecessary processing on post types like “Menus”, which can significantly improve performance on sites with complex configurations.

Maintenance:

• Improved internationalization (I18N) support.
• Fixed a bug where the cache group was not properly clearing when using the flush button.

Language:

• Updated the plugin with the latest language packs.

3.0.1 – Jul 22, 2025

Fix PHP warning on url_to_postid() filter.

3.0.0 – Jul 22, 2025

This release of Custom Permalinks brings significant enhancements to post type permalink management, introduces new customization options, and refines the overall user and developer experience.

Added

• Post Type Permalink Structures: Introduced robust functionality to define custom permalink structures for each public Post Type directly within the plugin settings. This allows for automatic URL generation based on predefined tags upon content creation, offering greater flexibility while still allowing manual edits.
• New Available Permalink Tags: Expanded the list of dynamic tags that can be used in permalink structures, including:
  • %parent_postname%: For immediate parent page slugs.
  • %parents_postnames%: For all parent page slugs.
  • %title%: A dynamic slug that updates with post title changes (until published or manually edited).
  • %ctax_parent_TAXONOMY_NAME%: For immediate parent custom taxonomy slugs.
  • %ctax_parents_TAXONOMY_NAME%: For all parent custom taxonomy slugs.
  • %custom_permalinks_TAG_NAME%: Allows developers to define and resolve their own custom tags.
• WP All Import Compatibility: Added support to generate/update permalinks when importing posts using the WP All Import plugin.
• New Filter Examples: Included clear code examples for custom_permalinks_post_permalink_tag to set custom values from ACF fields, and for programmatically generating permalinks for single posts and entire post types.

Improved

• Post Caching: Enhanced post caching mechanisms and optimized cache deletion upon updates for better performance.
• Permalink Retrieval: Improved logic to allow fetching posts against customized permalinks.
• Filter Documentation: Refined existing filter descriptions and improved code formatting for clarity.
• Plugin Purpose Clarity: Updated documentation to explicitly state that original post URLs will automatically redirect to the customized URLs, ensuring seamless transitions.

Earlier versions

• For the changelog of earlier versions, please refer to the separate changelog.txt file.