FrontPage Tutorials - How to Print a Broken Links Report in FrontPage 2000
by Tina Clarke
A FrontPage question that is frequently asked is "How do I print a list of the broken hyperlinks that are generated by the FrontPage 2000 reports feature?"
Firstly you Verify Hyperlinks. (
NOTE: You must be ONLINE to use this feature. Open FrontPage, then go to the File Menu and select Open. Type the URL of your website in the File Name box at the bottom.)
To do this you click on View on the FrontPage Menu Bar and select Reports, then Broken Hyperlinks.
Tip: FrontPage will count links that have redirects on them as a 'broken hyperlink'.
Tip: Urls that are too long will also be counted as 'broken'
To verify hyperlinks, click on the Verify Hyperlinks Button
on the Reporting Toolbar. (If you cannot see this toolbar, go to the View Menu and select Toolbars, then Reporting.) You can either 'Verify all Hyperlinks' or 'Verify Selected Hyperlink(s)'
Tip: Modified pages should be saved to check the most current version of the web.
After using Verify Hyperlinks, you must add the broken hyperlink to the task list.
Tip: To make sure you do not miss any broken hyperlinks click on the column heading that says "Status" to group all broken links together.
Right click on any broken link and choose 'Add Task' from the menu that pops up. Assign your priority rating, and fill in any details in the description box that you would like to add. You have to add one space after the details that are already there and then enter your text. If you don't, it will not show up in tasks view and the todo.htm list. Click Ok. Do this for all the broken hyperlinks you want to print out.
After adding the Broken Links in 'Add Task' you can view the 'To Do' list and print it if you wish. The path is _vti_pvt/_x_todo.htm. The 'To Do' list presents the links on your site (which is on your hard drive) as clickable. Depending on which Personal Web Server you use, your route to the To Do list will be different. I use Microsoft PWS so mine is C:\WEBSHARE\WWWROOT\ _vti_pvt\_x_todo.htm. If you're working with disk-based webs just insert the path of your site on your hard drive before \_vti_pvt\_x_todo.htm (example: C:\My Documents\My Webs\ mysite\_vti_pvt\_x_todo.htm, where "mysite" is the name of your web).
Tip: These files are hidden so you may need to check the 'Show Hidden Files' option in Windows Explorer. (View Menu |Folder Options |View tab).
If you have a large site, after verifying your hyperlinks you can come offline and select each link and add the task. Then work on the links a batch at a time.
Of course there are other solutions to this problem out there and one is the Freeware application Xenu. Xenu's Link Sleuth™ is a spidering software program that checks websites for broken links. Link verification is done on "normal" links, images, frames, backgrounds, local image maps, style sheets, scripts and applets. It displays a continuously updated list of URLs, which you can sort by different criteria. A report can be produced at any time. Whichever way you decide to check your links, do it at least once a month or once a week if you can, keeping your site constantly refreshed.
First Published in
ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers
Volume 2, July 2001
