Every stored link that powers autocomplete comes from one of two sources, controlled by a single setting: Automatic mode, which scans your content for you, or Manual mode, which uses a list you maintain yourself. This guide covers when to use each and how switching between them affects your existing links.
What You’ll Learn
- What Automatic mode scans, and on what schedule
- How to build your own list in Manual mode
- What happens to existing links when you switch modes
- Which mode fits your site
Automatic Mode
This is the default. On the schedule you choose – hourly, daily, or weekly – the plugin scans your published content for the post types selected under Post Types to Scan, pulls out every link pointing to a different domain than your own, and adds or updates it in your stored list. You can also trigger a scan immediately at any time with Run Manual Extraction in Settings, without waiting for the schedule.
Two more settings shape how Automatic mode behaves:
- Cleanup old links (days) – links that haven’t been used in this many days are removed automatically, so the list doesn’t accumulate dead URLs from content you’ve since edited or removed.
- Batch size – how many posts get processed per extraction run, so a single scan doesn’t try to process your entire site at once on a large install.
Manual Mode
Switch Mode to Manual in Settings and a Manual Links textarea appears in place of the extraction schedule. Paste in one URL per line – each one must be external (a different domain from your site) and start with http://, https://, or www. – then click Save. Automatic scanning stops entirely; nothing is added or removed from your list except what you put there yourself.
Manual mode is useful when you want autocomplete to only ever suggest a specific, curated set of links – a fixed list of partner sites or approved sources, for example – rather than whatever happens to appear in your content.
What Happens When You Switch
Switching modes doesn’t clear your existing links – it only changes how new ones get added. Moving from Automatic to Manual simply stops future scans; links already stored (and their usage counts) stay exactly as they are until you edit the Manual Links list or use Clear All Links to start over. Moving back to Automatic resumes scanning on the schedule you set.
Automatic and Manual link management are both available in Block Editor External Links Free and Block Editor External Links Pro.