How to Do a BIG List of Redirects Quickly.
If Marsh (or another customer) provides you with a large list of redirects, here is a quick way to make them in just a few minutes.
Note: Redirects for customers other than fully managed (Marsh, Lam, etc.), Small Business or Level 3 are a billable service to be charged at $25.00 for every 20 redirects.
1. Put the redirects in an Excel File using three columns: Name, OldURL and NewURL
2. If not provided with names for each redirect, put a meaningful name in the "Name" column of the spreadsheet followed by a "1" and then grab the "Fill Handle" and drag it down to pre-fill the following rows in successive numbers
3. Save that file on your local computer in a place where you can find it
4. Open up Microsoft Word
5. Paste the following in Word:
<rule name="[RULE NAME]" stopProcessing="true">
<match url="(.*)" />
<conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAny" trackAllCaptures="false">
<add input="{HTTP_HOST}{REQUEST_URI}" pattern="[OLD URL]" />
<add input="{HTTP_HOST}{REQUEST_URI}" pattern="www.[OLD URL]" />
</conditions>
<action type="Redirect" url="http://[NEW URL]" redirectType="Permanent"/>
</rule>
6. Go to the Mailings tab in Word
7. Click Start Mail Merge > Normal Word Document
8. Click Select Recipients > Use an Existing List
9. Navigate to the directory where you saved the Excel document and select it then Open.
10. Highlight [RULE NAME] then Insert Merge Field and choose Name
11. Highlight [OLD URL] then Insert Merge Field and choose OldURL in both locations where [OLD URL] is located
12. Highlight [NEW URL] then Insert Merge Field and choose NewURL
13. Select Finish & Merge > Edit Individual Documents > Merge Records All radio button then OK
14. Select All (Ctrl and A) which will select the redirects which are spread over multiple pages then copy (Ctrl and C)
You can now paste the entire created list of redirects into the appropriate section of the web.config file.
With this method you can complete hundreds of redirects in just a couple of minutes.