If you are using the Portfolio Element, and you follow one of the links to a single portfolio item, you have probably noticed ?portfolioID=xxx (where xxx is a number) is being added to the url in the browser address bar. Continue reading below to understand why this is appearing on your portfolio item links and how to change it.

This will happen if you’re constraining the Portfolio posts to a certain category / group of categories, or to exclude categories. That is done through the Portfolio Element settings in the builder. The reason why this query string is added to the URL is so the Previous / Next navigation on single portfolio posts will navigate only within your set categories and exclude any other posts. Without that identifier, it’s not possible for the theme to pass your specific category settings along to the single posts for accurate paging.

For example, let’s assume you chose to only show the Audio, Photography, and Web in a page using the Portfolio Element. Once you click on one of the portfolio item links to open it in a single portfolio page, the unique identifier will be added to the link. Then, if you use the Previous / Next buttons to navigate through the posts, only items from the 3 categories you’ve set will be displayed, and any additional items that are from other categories will be omitted.

This will only happen for links from the Portfolio element that does not include all categories. You can disable this, however, it will not retain the ability to page between your specific categories on your single post page. To remove the identifier for the URL, edit your page and open the Portfolio Element settings. Then find and enable the Hide URL Parameter setting. Be sure to update your page after making these changes in the settings.