Finding story URLs
Use the URLs page of the Canonical URLs application to review document URLs associated with a story's Arc ID.
The tool on this page finds and lists the canonical URL and document redirect URLs associated with a story. You can enter one of two items into the tool:
a story's ANS ID,
a story's URL, other than the canonical URL.
An editor from The Washington Post receives an email from a reader, reporting a website story issue.The editor copies the provided URL, finds the story's Arc ID, and opens the story in Composer to make the necessary changes.
An editor at The Washington Post needs to update a published story shared on social media. After changing the headline, the editor regenerates the story URL.
The editor then uses the Find URLs page to confirm both the new URL and social media URL remain linked to the story, ensuring social media posts stay active.
Procedure
Navigate to the Canonical URLs app. The Formats page is opened by default.
In the top menu, click URLs. The Find URLs page opens.
From the top drop down menu, select your desired website. Your organization's default website is automatically selected.
Fill out one of the following fields:
by Document UUID - add a story's Arc ID
by URL (Redirect FROM) - a URL that tied directly to a story's Arc ID; not the canonical URL
Note
You can only use a document redirect URL in the by URL (Redirect FROM) field. If you enter a story's canonical URL, the process fails and an error message appears, stating that a document could not be found.
Click Find. The Results field populates with the search results as follows:
by Document UUID - displays a list of document URLs associated with the Arc ID.
If there is only one result, this is the story's canonical URL. If there are multiple results, you see the canonical URL and document redirects.
by URL (Redirect FROM) - displays the Arc ID associated with this URL.