How To Fix “The Link You Followed Has Expired” WordPress Error

WordPress is a content management system for creating and managing websites, To get started with WordPress, you will need to find a web host and register a domain name. Once you have done that, you can install WordPress on your web host. This is usually a very simple process, and most web hosts offer one-click WordPress installation.

If you have been running a WordPress website for a long time you may encounter the “The Link You Followed Has Expired” WordPress error. This type of error in WordPress is usually caused by a file upload size limit being exceeded. This can happen when trying to upload a WordPress theme, plugin, or other file that is larger than the maximum file size allowed by your hosting provider.

In this post, we will discuss how to fix the “The Link You Followed Has Expired” WordPress error so you can get back to your website and start your routine work. But first, let’s discuss what causes can develop this kind of error.

Why does the “The link you followed has expired” error occur?

The “The link you followed has expired” error is most commonly caused by:

1. A file size upload limit that is set by the web hosting provider.
2. If you try to upload a file that is larger than the limit, you will see the “The link you followed has expired” error.
3. PHP execution time limit that is set by the web hosting provider.

Here is an image that how the the link you followed is broken is look like:

As you can see above the screenshot you can try to fix it as discussed below such as increasing the file size upload limit or the PHP execution time limit. You can also try to find a different link to the file that you are trying to upload.

Check the Limit of WordPress

You can check the limit the WordPress yourself, by logging into WordPress, navigating to the Media then Add New, As you can see the maximum uploading size, is figured below:

The file upload size is max set 512 MB which is by default but in this case, we need to increase the file size, So here is described below:

How To Fix “The Link You Followed Has Expired”

Before anything starts first create a backup of the website because in many cases editing in code is possible so a backup can avoid data loss and confidently do experiments with the website.

Here are solutions to fix the expired link issue:

Editing in functions.php

Let’s get started with editing fuctions.php by increasing the file upload limit in the functions.php file. This is the easiest method, and it can be done from within the WordPress dashboard.

1. Go to Appearance and in the Theme Editor.
2. Open the functions.php file.
3. Add the following code to the bottom of the file:

@ini_set( 'upload_max_size', '64M' );
@ini_set( 'post_max_size', '64M' );

4. Replace 64M with the maximum file size you want to edit, write in megabytes.
5. Save the file and click Update file.

Now once it is done with editing in theme, check your website by reloading in Incognito. If this is not working check the other options described below:

Editing in .htaccess file

This method is a bit more technical, but it is still easy to do. You can do this by accessing the file manager or FTP method, but in this guide we use cPanel. If you have installed cPanel on your server. Login into your cPanel and navigate to file manager you can see the .htaccess file.

Sometimes the .htaccess file is hidden so you can enable it by navigating to your file manager setting and checking the show dot files or hidden files. This option can be visible in the .htaccess file.

1. After that right-click in the .htaccess file and edit the following code at the bottom of the file:

php_value upload_max_filesize 64M
php_value post_max_size 64M

2. Similarly, replace 64M with the maximum file size you want to in megabytes.
3. Save the file and check your website in your new tab.

Another method “The link you followed has expired” error is to make changes or increase file size editing in php file.

Editing the php.ini file

You can access the php.ini in your cPanel, by navigating the file manager to find the php.ini file listed in the root directory if it is not there in some cases shared hosting providers can not provide php.ini file so you can create it manually and upload it to your file manager. Edit the following lines given below:

upload_max_filesize = 64M
post_max_size = 64M

change the values to the maximum file size you want to allow, in megabytes. Save the file and upload it back to your server.

Update your PHP version:

In some cases, the “The link you followed has expired” error can be caused by an outdated version of PHP. If you are using a version of PHP that is older than 5.6, try updating to a newer version.

Check for plugin conflicts:

If you are still seeing the error after increasing the file upload limits and updating your PHP version, it is possible that a plugin is causing the conflict. To check for plugin conflicts, disable all of your plugins and then try to upload the file again. You can disable via by deactivating the plugins in the WordPress admin area.

Conclusion

The error message “The link you followed has expired” means that WordPress is not able to upload the file because it is too large. To fix this, you can increase the file upload limit in your WordPress settings. You can also try updating your PHP version or checking for plugin conflicts.