How to Stop WordPress 3.0 From Putting a Number in My Permalink

Use a custom structure to take numbers out of your permalinks.

A WordPress website does not contain physical subdirectories and Web pages, other than those necessary to run the "dashboard" management area. Instead, when visitors navigate through your WordPress site, posts and pages are displayed using templates, and the browser address bar displays pseudo-URLS that don't really exist. These URLs are called "permalinks" because they make linking to the dynamic, database-driven content possible. The default and pre-set permalink structures all use numbers, but you can set a custom structure that excludes them.

Instructions

1. Navigate to the dashboard in WordPress from the "wp-admin" directory of your website. Hover over the "Settings" option in the sidebar menu of the dashboard and click the down-pointing arrow when it appears. Go to "Permalinks" under "Settings" in the sidebar menu.

2. Select the "Custom Structure" option under "Common Settings" and clear the nearby text field. Type these structure tags into the "Custom Structure" tag to give your WordPress website a permalink setting that does not use any numbers:

   /%category%/%postname%/

   You cannot use a post's name by itself in a permalink structure without causing problems such as name conflicts.

3. Click the blue "Save Changes" button to update your website's permalink structure.

Tips & Warnings

• When using the "/category/postname/" structure, you should always categorize your posts to avoid placing the "uncategorized" name in your permalink URLs.

• You must use structure tags in the "Custom Structure" field. Simply writing the desired name of a directory you want to use will not work.

References

• WordPress: Using Permalinks