---
title: "How to fix broken internal links in Comala Publishing"
canonical: "https://support.appfire.com/space/SUPPORT/2147746055/How%20to%20fix%20broken%20internal%20links%20in%20Comala%20Publishing"
format: markdown
---
## Summary

This article addresses issues where internal links between pages appear broken (showing "can't find link") after you use Comala Publishing to sync content between spaces. It covers two distinct scenarios: links that break in the target space because of publishing order, and links that appear broken in the source space.

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## Broken links in the target space

### Problem

When you publish multiple pages that link to each other from a source space to a target space, links in the target space may display a "can't find link" error. This typically happens when the page that contains the link is published before the page it points to.

### Cause

During the publishing process, Comala Publishing attempts to resolve and map links to their counterparts in the target space. If the destination page (the linked page) doesn't exist in the target space yet when the source page is published, the link can't be resolved, which results in a broken reference.

### Solution

To ensure link integrity in the target space:

1. Always publish the "linked-to" pages (destination pages) before you publish the pages that contain the links (source pages).
2. If links are already broken, make sure all destination pages have been successfully published to the target space, and then re-publish the page that contains the broken links.
3. For large numbers of pages, use the **Space Report** to identify and re-publish the necessary pages in the correct sequence.
4. For individual issues, perform a single-page publish (sync) to refresh the link mapping.

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## Broken links in the source space

### Problem

In some cases, customers have reported that links appear broken in the **source space** (the original space where content is managed) shortly after they install or configure Comala Publishing. This may show up as page IDs that appear to change or links that redirect to dead ends.

### Cause

Comala Publishing doesn't modify links in the source space; it only processes links during the transition from source to target. If links are broken in the source space, the cause may be related to:

- Manual page moves or deletions.
- Interactions with other apps, like Comala Document Management (CDM), during the publishing workflow.
- Underlying Confluence instance issues (for example, page ID changes).

### Troubleshoot broken links in the source space

If you encounter broken links in your source space:

1. Compare the storage format of the page before and after the publishing event to see whether the link syntax has changed.
  For example, a storage format snippet for an internal link looks like this:
2. If you use Comala Document Management, make sure the **Published** state in the source space is correctly configured and that the page is fully rendered before Comala Publishing picks it up.
3. Create a test page with a link, publish it through CDM, and then sync it through Comala Publishing to see whether the source link breaks.
4. If the issue persists in the source space without manual intervention, contact Support and provide the storage format of both the source and target pages for deeper analysis.