---
title: "Extractors: Page Navigation"
slug: "extractors-page-navigation-1"
updated: 2025-03-12T18:25:12Z
published: 2025-03-12T18:25:12Z
canonical: "help.mozenda.com/extractors-page-navigation-1"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.mozenda.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Extractors: Page Navigation

This article explains how Extractor robots handle page navigation in general.

[Extractors: Lists & Loops](/v1/docs/extractors-lists-loops) shows an example of this by navigating back and forth between a product listing page and each product details page:

![e1.png](https://cdn.document360.io/03076343-9561-4857-8a4e-9f3bfed20ced/Images/Documentation/e1%281%29.png)

To learn the basics of how to build Extractor robots, please see [Extractors](/v1/docs/extractors).

### Page state

When a step in an Extractor robot navigates to a new URL, e.g., via a **Go to URL** step or a **Click element** step that selects a link, it does so in a way that corresponds to a human opening the page in a new browser tab (or browser window).

In the example of looping over product **details** pages on a **listing** page, every time the robot selects a **details** link, the details page is opened in a new tab. After every iteration of the loop, that tab is then closed.

Keeping track of what page should be navigated to next is called **page state** and is automatically handled by Extractors.

### Examples

Almost any interaction with a web page can cause a page navigation (as defined by the developer of the page).

However, some typical examples of what can cause a page navigation are listed below, specifying in parenthesis which step type to use.

- Visiting a new URL  - **Go to URL**
- Selecting a link - **Click element**
- Submitting a form - **Click element**
- Navigating a paginated page - **Page iteration**
- Explicitly changing the URL via JavaScript - **Execute JavaScript**, e.g., **location.href=url**

### Single page applications

Some websites are built as *single page apps* (if built using frameworks like React or AngularJS), i.e., from the browser's perspective, when new content is loaded, e.g., loading a product details page from the listing page, it is not considered a page navigation.

This is because the loading of the new content is handled via JavaScript code: the URL in the browser remains the same but the logic in the code *swaps out* the **list page** for the **details page**.

It is not possible to provide a general answer on how to handle single page applications but, in the **product listing-details** example in each iteration, before going back to the **listing** page, the final step should somehow reset the page state. This final step could, e.g., select a **Back** button on the page or be a **History -> Back** step, corresponding to selecting **Back** in your browser.

The same resetting of state should be done when using branches in Extractors that interact with single page applications.

Read more about this in the **Page state** section of [The extractor editor](/v1/docs/what-should-i-know-about-the-extractor-editor)

              **Tip!**

              

A few websites that implement "normal" page navigation (links opened in new tabs) require the Extractor robot to treat the website as if it were a single page app (due to some quirk in the website code). This behavior can be achieved by enabling the **Force single page?** option on the **Settings** tab.

![e2.png](https://cdn.document360.io/03076343-9561-4857-8a4e-9f3bfed20ced/Images/Documentation/e2%282%29.png)