Fix “The link you followed has expired” Error When Saving Large Menus

If you see the error “The link you followed has expired” while saving or reordering menus, don’t worry.

This is a common WordPress issue and is not caused by the Advance Menu Manager plugin itself.

It usually happens when your menu is very large, and your server limits are too low.

When does this issue occur?

You may face this issue if:

• Your menu has many items or deep sub-menus
• You try to reorder menu items
• You add a new menu item under another item
• You click Save Menu, and WordPress fails to save

Instead of saving, WordPress shows:

The link you followed has expired

Why this happens

When you save a large menu, WordPress sends a big request to the server.

If your server limits are low, the request gets blocked or times out, which triggers this error.

This is controlled by your server or hosting configuration, not by the plugin.

Solution: Increase your server limits

To fix this issue, you need to increase some PHP/server limits.

⚠️ Important:

The values shown below are only example reference values.

They may not be sufficient for every store.

Your store may need higher limits, depending on:

• Number of menu items
• Menu depth
• Active plugins
• Hosting environment

Do not blindly copy-paste these values without understanding or verifying with your hosting provider.

Option 1: Increase limits using wp-config.php  

1. Open your site’s wp-config.php file.
2. Add the following lines above /* That's all, stop editing! Happy publishing. */  

@ini_set('upload_max_size', '120M');
@ini_set('post_max_size', '120M');
@ini_set('max_execution_time', '300');

3. Save the file.
4. Go back to Menus and try saving the menu again.

Option 2: Ask your hosting provider (recommended)

If you are not comfortable editing files, contact your hosting support and ask them to:

• Increase upload_max_size  
• Increase post_max_size  
• Increase max_execution_time  

You can share this message with them:

I am getting “The link you followed has expired” error while saving large WordPress menus.

Please increase my PHP limits (upload_max_size, post_max_size, and max_execution_time).

Your hosting team can safely adjust the limits according to your server setup.

Still facing the issue?

If the problem continues even after increasing the limits:

1. Enable WordPress error logging.
2. Reproduce the issue.
3. Share the error log with our support team.

This helps us quickly identify any server-specific issues.