Embed problems: can’t insert link, others don’t open in new window

  • churchmouse · Member ·

    On February 16, I began having problems with inserting hyperlinks to news articles.

    I wrote WordPress twice on the pop-up Support window message facility but have received no reply.

    These are the problems:

    1/ Inserting a new link no longer works. I get this error message, ‘Page not found’:

    https://churchmousec.wordpress.com/wp-admin/_wp_link_placeholder

    2/ I can no longer get copied links (e.g. from one of my posts) to open in a new tab automatically

    As I use a lot of external links, this has become quite frustrating. I can hyperlink in Word, then copy across and paste the link to my post, but I cannot then get the link to open in a new tab.

    While I realise that my theme is no longer supported, it is disappointing to see its functionality being gradually removed.

    Two other features also disappeared over the past few months: spellcheck and being able to insert a link into a comment using the same functionality as in writing a post.

    I would be most grateful if someone could get back to me with a solution.

    Thank you in advance for your help.

    Churchmouse

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • staff-zinnia · Staff ·

    Hello –

    I’ll be glad to help. Let’s work through 1 item at at a time.

    1/ Inserting a new link no longer works. I get this error message, ‘Page not found’:

    This message happens when the page has been deleted from your dashboard. Do you remember the title of the page? We may be able to restore it from the trash. I’ll be glad to take a look at things form my side.

  • churchmouse · Member ·

    Yes, I understand that, but this happens when I am trying to insert a live link to another site. Let’s choose a simple example, The Times: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/

    I insert the link and press Enter. The pop-up link box then flashes several times (as if it were no longer meant to be used), and I cannot click the box that says ‘Open link in new tab’. Once in the text of the post, the link is not stable. I get the ‘Page not found’ message. Clicking again sometimes makes the link disappear altogether.

  • staff-heroponriki · Staff ·

    Can you link us to a post or page draft where the link is failing so we can take a closer look? Thanks!

  • churchmouse · Member ·

    Thank you kindly.

    Here is a test post, which explains more:

    https://wordpress.com/post/churchmousec.wordpress.com/69761

    I look forward to hearing from you.

  • supernovia · Staff ·

    Hi @churchmouse , I just tried to duplicate the same thing with the test post. Here’s what I tried:

    1 – I copied one of the long URLs
    2 – I highlighted some words for a link
    3 – I pasted the URL

    That didn’t seem to cause any trouble, so I copied another and

    1 – Highlighted words to link
    2 – Clicked the link icon
    3 – Pasted the URL
    4 – Clicked Apply

    No trouble there either, and for the sake of testing, I saved and tested in the preview. They seem to work. Can you confirm?

  • churchmouse · Member ·

    Thank you very much for your reply.

    I was hopeful when I read it.

    Unfortunately, I wrote my post for March 9 and could not reproduce your results using the Classic editor.

    In addition, using the test post, I tried to link to another longer link (please see https://wordpress.com/post/churchmousec.wordpress.com/69761) but was unable to do so. Once again — in the Classic editor — the pop-up link box flickered and the link appeared briefly then disappeared.

    Are you using the Classic editor?

  • aleone89 · Staff ·

    Hey there,

    Many thanks for reaching out.

    I can’t seem to replicate what you’re experiencing with the classic editor there. Can you tell me what browser is in use, and what (if any) browser extensions are in use.

    Also, to check – is https://churchmousec.wordpress.com/wp-admin/_wp_link_placeholder – the link you’re trying to use generally speaking?

    Many thanks.

  • churchmouse · Member ·

    Thank you for your response.

    That message is what I get when I click on a link I tried to embed, as stated at the beginning of this post.

    There is something that WordPress engineers are able to do that I am not.

    Again, this only started happening on February 16, 2023. I have been using this theme successfully since March 17, 2009.

    I have explained today’s unsuccessful test in the test post: https://wordpress.com/post/churchmousec.wordpress.com/69761

    Thank you in advance.

  • churchmouse · Member ·

    I forgot to add that I use Firefox, in answer to your question.

    I do not have any extensions installed.

  • staff-heroponriki · Staff ·

    Can you also let us know your operating system and version? That will help us troubleshoot the issue. Thanks!

  • churchmouse · Member ·

    My Firefox is up to date: version 110.0.1 (64-bit).

  • staff-doublebassd · Staff ·

    Hi there,

    Hmm…yeah, this is unusual, as I also tested this on my test site in FireFox and had no issues:

    To rule out a browser cache issue, have you tried logging in using a different browser and seeing if the problem persists or clearing your browser’s cache in Firefox?

    Let us know. Thanks!

  • churchmouse · Member ·

    Thank you very much for your response. I will look at this in more detail on Sunday and get back to you as soon as I can.

  • churchmouse · Member ·

    Thank you very much, doublebassd, for the cache-clearing procedure.

    I went back to my test post and was able to successfully add not only two links but also to get them to open in new tabs! That makes my day!

    One further request to you or your colleagues, if I may: could one of you kindly restore my spellcheck to UK English? My spellcheck vanished late last year and getting it back would be a huge help.

    Thank you in advance for your help.

  • staff-totoro · Staff ·

    Hi there,

    There is not a native proofreader built in to WordPress, so when you see spell-checking this is typically being done by your browser as well: https://wordpress.com/support/proofreading/

    I was able to do a bit of research and for Firefox this seems to be a know issue based on the post I found here: https://support.mozilla.org/bm/questions/1337289

    You may wish to try the suggestions presented in the answer section. It seems you can update your Firefox settings to use an updated dictionary that is specific to UK English.

    Hope that helps. Please let us know if you have any more questions.

  • churchmouse · Member ·

    Thank you, totoro — greatly appreciated!

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