Nick,
That is not exactly accurate.
If you want to redirect an old URL (.htm, .html, .pdf, etc.), you CAN do it with the plugin or most other redirect plugins that function similarly.
There are two very important things you have to keep in mind before it will work, though:
- You do need have some form of permalink structure set up
- The old file cannot be present on the server.
For number 1, this needs to be in place or WordPress does not know what '/new-page/' is – it will literally look for a folder off the root called 'new-page' and it will give a 404. This has nothing to do with the plugin at all – it is WordPress and the Server causing the behavior.
For number 2, the file cannot be present – this is because the way the permalink structure works, WordPress looks first for an existing file or folder and if it does not find it, THEN it will start the process to see if there is a redirect or some other matching element. Again, this has nothing to do with the plugin, it is a WordPress permalink default behavior.
That is most likely why you are having an issue with all of the redirect plugins you have tried – you are trying to go against WordPress functionality. Set up a Permalink Structure of some type and make sure the files are not there (move them into another folder called ‘old’ or something), and you should be able to get things to work.
Hope this clears things up a bit.
Regards,
Don
