> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.postiz.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Links and validation errors

> Short links, link stripping, and why the composer will not let you save

## Short links

If your post contains a URL, Postiz can shorten it so clicks are trackable. The
behaviour is a setting, not a per-post decision:

| Preference           | What happens                   |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------ |
| **Ask every time**   | You are prompted before saving |
| **Always shortlink** | URLs are shortened silently    |
| **Never shortlink**  | URLs are left alone            |

Set it in Settings, see [Settings](/general/settings/overview).

When prompted, the wording is:

> Do you want to shortlink the URLs? it will let you get statistics over clicks

Shortened links produce a click table in the post's
[statistics](/general/posts/actions-and-stats).

<Note>
  Channels configured to strip links are excluded from shortening, because the
  link is going to be removed anyway.
</Note>

## Link stripping

Some setups remove URLs from post text before publishing, most commonly on X,
where accounts often see better reach without links. When that is enabled for a
channel, links are removed from the text at publish time. Put the link in a
follow-up comment instead, see
[Threads and comments](/general/composer/threads-and-comments).

<Note>
  **On self-hosted Postiz:** link stripping is switched on per platform by
  whoever runs the instance.
</Note>

## Validation

Postiz validates a post against every selected channel before saving. If any
channel fails, nothing is saved and the composer jumps to the offending
channel with the error shown, either on the editor or on its settings panel.

The same validation runs again on the server when you submit, so you cannot
bypass it by editing the request.

### What usually fails

| Error           | Cause                                                                                    |
| --------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Empty content   | A selected channel has no text and the platform requires some                            |
| Too long        | Over the character limit for that platform                                               |
| Missing setting | A required per-platform field is empty: YouTube title, Reddit subreddit, Pinterest board |
| Media rules     | Wrong number or type of attachments for the platform                                     |

### Fixing them

For length, detach the offending channel and write a shorter version rather
than cutting the text everywhere. See
[Global vs per-channel](/general/composer/global-vs-per-channel).

For media, check the platform's rules first, since the constraint usually comes
from the platform rather than from Postiz. See
[Posting rules by platform](/general/platforms/overview).

For required settings, open the channel's tab in the composer and fill in the
Settings panel. Required fields are the ones the platform refuses posts
without, so there is no way around them.