# Email notification template GUI complains about %{base\_url}

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/email-notification-template-gui-complains-about-base-url/279395>\
**Category:** Bug\
**Created:** [September 18, 2023, 2:36pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/email-notification-template-gui-complains-about-base-url/279395 "2023-09-18T14:36:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 5

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**Author:** ![nordize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c68b51/32.png) [@nordize](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nordize)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 4:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/email-notification-template-gui-complains-about-base-url/279395/5 "2023-09-18T16:19:49Z")

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> [@simon](#):
>
> When I test this, I can’t get `%{base_url}` to save, so it isn’t getting used.

As I was mentioned initially, I’m talking about existing custom templates mislabeled as invalid after upgrading to 3.x, i.e. templates that were edited under 2.x and still exist after upgrade containing %{base\_url}. Removing that placeholder makes it impossible to create full URLs without resorting to hard coding URLs. Not removing it makes it obvious that it is still expanded just fine under 3.1.1. I re-read the first post and I don’t find it unclear.

You could probably test it yourself by editing the database directly (or possibly also in a Rails console if the code doesn’t run the same validation).

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