Redirecting Old PDF URLs to New Sitefinity URLs

🚩 Introduction

When migrating to a new Sitefinity website, we encountered a need to redirect legacy PDF links from the old URL structure (e.g., xxx.com/en/document/sample.pdf) to their new locations.

By default, Sitefinity stores uploaded documents under the following URL pattern:

/docs/<provider>/<library_folder>/<file and extension>

Unfortunately, Sitefinity does not offer direct configuration options to modify this URL structure for Documents & Files.

We found no way to configure the Documents & Files setting.

🔍 Workaround Solution

After researching community discussions, we discovered a creative workaround using the Pages module to simulate the desired PDF redirection behavior.

Here's the step-by-step guide:

1. Update Allowed Page Extensions

Navigate to:

Sitefinity Backend ➔ Administration ➔ Settings ➔ Advanced ➔ Pages

Under the Pages settings:

• Locate the "Not allowed page extensions" setting.
• Remove .pdf from the list to allow Sitefinity pages to have a .pdf extension.

This change enables the system to create pages that end with .pdf.

2. Upload the Document

Upload your PDF file to the Documents & Files module.

• Note: You will need the "URL to file" for later when setting up the redirect.

3. Set Up the Page Structure for Redirection

• Create the necessary page hierarchy to match the original URL path (e.g., /en/document/).
• Exclude intermediate pages (like /en/ and /document/) from navigation if they are only meant for structuring.

Use the page settings to hide from navigation:

• Create a final page named sample.pdf.
• Since .pdf is now an allowed extension, the URL will properly end with .pdf.

For this sample.pdf page:

• Check "Redirect to another page".
• Set the target to the document's URL obtained in Step 2 (you can use a relative path).

The structured approach categorizes and redirects documents cleanly.

4. Alternative: Root-Level Redirection

Alternatively, you can create a single redirect page at the root if matching the full path is challenging.

⚡ Important: Be aware of URL conflicts if the same path already exists as a structured page.

Example: /en/documents/sample.pdf

Use /documents/ instead of /document/ if /document/ is already taken.

5. Test the Redirection

Now, visiting:

• xxx.com/en/document/sample.pdf
  or
• xxx.com/en/documents/sample.pdf

should correctly redirect to your uploaded PDF document!

📚 References

• Sitefinity - 301 redirects the PDF