# Bug: clicking on anchor links and hitting back twice causes notebooks to go blank

**URL:** <https://talk.observablehq.com/t/bug-clicking-on-anchor-links-and-hitting-back-twice-causes-notebooks-to-go-blank/2184>\
**Category:** Feedback\
**Created:** [July 19, 2019, 12:03am UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/bug-clicking-on-anchor-links-and-hitting-back-twice-causes-notebooks-to-go-blank/2184 "2019-07-19T00:03:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bgchen](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/bgchen/32/784_2.png) [@bgchen](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/bgchen)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 12:03am UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/bug-clicking-on-anchor-links-and-hitting-back-twice-causes-notebooks-to-go-blank/2184/1 "2019-07-19T00:03:06Z")

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Clicking on an anchor link in a notebook inserts two entries into the browser history instead of one. Pressing back in the browser a few times then causes the notebook to go blank. Possibly related to [recent hash param changes](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/idea-allow-access-to-location-hash-params-key-value/2136/13)?

Tested in Firefox, Chrome and Safari on macOS:

> **[Anchor links + hitting back?](https://observablehq.com/d/6bb1019a29eef2b8)**
>
> Clicking an anchor link and then hitting back twice seems to blank the notebook. Forum thread: https://talk.observablehq.com/t/bug-clicking-on-anchor-links-and-hitting-back-twice-causes-notebooks-to-go-blank/2184 Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 1 2 3

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**Author:** ![mbostock](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/mbostock/32/9_2.png) [@mbostock](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/mbostock)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 12:31am UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/bug-clicking-on-anchor-links-and-hitting-back-twice-causes-notebooks-to-go-blank/2184/2 "2019-07-19T00:31:20Z")

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Confirmed. Thanks for the report! We are investigating.

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**Author:** ![jashkenas](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/jashkenas/32/1778_2.png) [@jashkenas](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/jashkenas)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 4:57pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/bug-clicking-on-anchor-links-and-hitting-back-twice-causes-notebooks-to-go-blank/2184/3 "2019-07-19T16:57:27Z")

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@bgchen It was indeed related to the recent hash/querystring changes.

We’ve had to go back and implement the hash syncing in a bit more of a complicated fashion — but it should be working properly now.

Please let us know if you notice anything else!