# Blog post URL missing ... "?item=" **URL:** \ **Category:** Elements\ **Created:** [October 9, 2025, 2:02pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/blog-post-url-missing-item/51628 "2025-10-09T14:02:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jbob](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/jbob/32/31581_2.png) [@jbob](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/jbob)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 2:02pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/blog-post-url-missing-item/51628/1 "2025-10-09T14:02:09Z")
![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/uploads/realmacsoftware1/original/3X/3/1/3121100906863485cd7de83d136f1c24bc06eaa4.png) ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/uploads/realmacsoftware1/original/3X/5/7/573e302f4e39be874558434b6ba8c94d7ceb3c84.png) My blog calls up a blog post in Elements just fine ! But once published … clicking on a blog post gives me an error 404 I can see that the URL it’s calling in Safari is MISSING the “?item=” before the post name (at the tail-end of the URL) If I type it back in, the post shows up … just as it should How can I get Elements to publish to the ‘correct’? address which includes “?item=” > **[Peter Yates, Timeline](https://www.peteryates.co.uk/2025/references/blog/)** > > Timeline 1920 - Present | Peter Yates, Artist and Architect, 1920 - 1982 ---
**Author:** ![jbob](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/jbob/32/31581_2.png) [@jbob](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/jbob)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 4:28pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/blog-post-url-missing-item/51628/2 "2025-10-09T16:28:41Z")
anyone ? ---
**Author:** ![jbob](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/jbob/32/31581_2.png) [@jbob](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/jbob)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 4:28pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/blog-post-url-missing-item/51628/3 "2025-10-09T16:28:50Z")
Bueller ? ---
**Author:** ![differentdan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/differentdan/32/33530_2.png) [@differentdan](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/differentdan)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 6:00pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/blog-post-url-missing-item/51628/4 "2025-10-09T18:00:19Z")
Not sure if this is it, but do you have the pretty URLs code added in your .htaccess file? > **[Pretty URL's | RapidWeaver Elements Docs](https://docs.realmacsoftware.com/elements-docs/cms/cms/pretty-urls)** ---
**Author:** ![ben](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/ben/32/28488_2.png) [@ben](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/ben)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 6:10pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/blog-post-url-missing-item/51628/5 "2025-10-09T18:10:19Z")
> [@jbob](#): > > I can see that the URL it’s calling in Safari is MISSING the “?item=” before the post name (at the tail-end of the URL) this looks like you’ve turned on “Pretty URLs” but don’t have an htaccess rewrite rule to make pretty urls work. Turn off the Pretty URLs setting on the Collection and you should see it start working as expected 🙂 ![CleanShot 2025-10-09 at 20.09.54@2x](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/uploads/realmacsoftware1/original/3X/a/c/ac494efa7640ff380d193c6cbb0339f28d440363.png) ---
**Author:** ![jbob](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/jbob/32/31581_2.png) [@jbob](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/jbob)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 9:15pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/blog-post-url-missing-item/51628/6 "2025-10-09T21:15:26Z")
Fab - thank you Ben !! Jol ---
**Author:** ![differentdan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/differentdan/32/33530_2.png) [@differentdan](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/differentdan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 12:42pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/blog-post-url-missing-item/51628/7 "2025-10-10T12:42:26Z")
Why not use pretty URLs though? It would look prettier than having that ?item= string in the URL. 😄 ![gremlin GIF](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/uploads/realmacsoftware1/original/3X/8/7/87a4480eed1d61caa3a366ee38df7bffeb6cc2e8.gif) ---
**Author:** ![jbob](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/jbob/32/31581_2.png) [@jbob](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/jbob)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 12:57pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/blog-post-url-missing-item/51628/8 "2025-10-10T12:57:14Z")
You sure sell them well !! Honestly … I dont understand them … need to read about them ---
**Author:** ![Pegasus](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/pegasus/32/25035_2.png) [@Pegasus](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/Pegasus)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 12:57pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/blog-post-url-missing-item/51628/9 "2025-10-10T12:57:24Z")
> [@differentdan](#): > > Why not use pretty URLs though? Maybe because [of the canonical tag issue](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/canonical-tag-issue-in-elements-cms/51033). Unfortunately, blog posts aren’t being indexed that way.