@Sulpher Our System - SEF plugin can only convert the URL to SEF URL if the link starts with index.php. In this case, the link starts with /index.php (note the slash at the beginning) and it is not being converted (I don't know why we decided to add the / to the link like that)

@Sulpher Our System - SEF plugin can only convert the URL to SEF URL if the link starts with index.php. In this case, the link starts with /index.php (note the slash at the beginning) and it is not being converted (I don't know why we decided to add the / to the link like that)

Yes, but the slash is being added by Joomla after saving since I always paste the non-SEF URL as is which starts from index.php.
So, then a patch is needed which prevents of adding slash before the URL.

@Sulpher Afraid it is designed to work like that. We use url filter to make sure the entered value is really accessible URL.

You can test it by :

1. Remove filter="url" from the code in the above link
2. Enter the URL in the format you mentioned
3. Disable System - SEF plugin

Then try to access to article and click on the link. You will get a broken link. For example, in my test, the link becomes http://localhost/joomla42/index.php/content-categories/sport/index.php?option=com_article&view=article&id=23 .

Closing this issue because it is working as expected as explained above.