In this video, we'll take a look at how we can delete all aliases, as well as create aliases for all non-aliased content. We'll also take a look at how aliases are created automatically, and how to manually override an alias.

Bulk Update

In the "Bulk Update" tab, you can create aliases for content that does not yet have an alias. This is incredibly useful if you are adding the Pathauto module to an existing site that uses the default "/node/[nid]" URL pattern. It is also handy when used in conjunction with the "Delete Aliases" tab if you'd like to recreate all aliases.

Delete Aliases

The "Delete Aliases" tab shows how many pieces of content in each category currently have aliases, and gives you the option to delete aliases for various entity types.
I'm going to delete all aliases and then use the bulk update tab to create new aliases using the patters we just setup.

Delete all aliases and create new ones

  • Select "All aliases"
  • Click "Delete aliases now!
  • Click the "Bulk Update" tab
  • Select all boxes
  • Click "Update"

Ok, so we just deleted all aliases we had previously set, and recreated them using the patterns we set in the "Patterns" tab. Our old articles that were at "/node/1" and "/node/2" have new paths.

View all URL aliases

If you'd like to view all of the current URL aliases, you can click the "list" tab. Here we see that our three articles have been given new aliases, and our pages have as well.
One thing you'll notice is that our about page has been given the new alias "page/about". I had originally specified the alias "about", and would really rather use that alias, so I'll go change that back.

  • Next to "page/about", click "edit"
  • Change the Path alias to "about"

So, this is something to keep in mind if you create custom aliases. Deleting all aliases will even remove your custom aliases. So, use the "Delete Aliases" tab with caution on an existing site.

If there are only a few pages that do not have an alias, or have a custom alias, and you'd like them to have a generated one, you can go to the content, and click the "edit" tab. At the bottom of that page select the "URL path settings" tab. Here, you can select the "Generate automatic URL alias" box, and save the content.

  • Go to "about"
  • Click "Edit"
  • Select the "URL path settings" tab
  • Select the "Generate automatic URL alias" box
  • Save

Now, the page has an alias according to the pattern we set for the basic page content type.

I'm actually going to change this back before we go any further

  • Go to "page-about"
  • Click "Edit"
  • Select the "URL path settings" tab
  • De-select the "Generate automatic URL alias" box
  • Enter "about"
  • Save