That custom link is already taken

Why a link name you are sure is free comes back as taken, and the three places it can be hiding.

Custom links have to be unique inside your workspace, and that uniqueness is shared across all three shareable things: review links, reels, and presentations. So a name can be taken by something you were not thinking about.

What you're seeing

You set a custom link on a review link, reel, or presentation, and saving returns a message like The slug "spring-campaign" is already used by another reel. Choose a different one. The name looks free to you, and nothing obvious in your list is using it.

Why it happens

One custom link name can only belong to one item in your workspace at a time, and the name is checked against review links, reels, and presentations together.

That last part is what surprises people. You are editing a review link, so you scan your review links, see nothing called spring-campaign, and assume the name is free. But a reel or a presentation from months ago may be holding it. The message names the type that holds it, so read it closely: it tells you which of the three lists to go looking in.

Two more places a name can hide:

• Unpublished or draft items. A reel that was never published, or a presentation still in draft, still holds its custom link. It does not have to be live to reserve the name.
• Recently deleted presentations. A deleted presentation is restorable for 10 days, and it keeps its custom link for that whole window so that restoring it brings back a working URL. It is out of your main list but still holding the name.

Fix it

Pick a different name. The fastest route. Add the client, the month, or the cut: spring-campaign-v2, spring-campaign-acme, spring-campaign-aug.

Or free the name you want. Find whatever holds it and rename its custom link, then set yours:

1. Check all three lists: Review Links, Reels, and Presentations. The error message tells you which type to start with.
2. Open the item holding the name and change its custom link to something else. Anyone using the old URL will no longer reach it, so only do this if that link is genuinely finished.
3. Go back and set your name, which is now free.

If a deleted presentation is holding it, open Presentations, find it under Recently deleted, click Restore, rename its custom link, then delete it again.

Still stuck

If nothing in any of the three lists uses the name and it still comes back as taken, contact us from the help button in the bottom-right corner of HoldFast (the Support tab) with the exact name you are trying to use, and we will find what is holding it.