# willTransition will not fire without hash

**URL:** <https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/willtransition-will-not-fire-without-hash/15111>\
**Category:** Routing\
**Created:** [July 12, 2018, 3:47pm UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/willtransition-will-not-fire-without-hash/15111 "2018-07-12T15:47:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jrock2004](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.emberjs.com/jrock2004/32/12133_2.png) [@jrock2004](https://discuss.emberjs.com/u/jrock2004)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 3:47pm UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/willtransition-will-not-fire-without-hash/15111/1 "2018-07-12T15:47:02Z")

</div>

I have an app where `locationType` was set to `hash`. When I would go into the url and manually change it, my willTransition would fire. Recently I switched it to `auto` and now when I change that url, it does not fire. Thoughts?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ef4](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.emberjs.com/ef4/32/13470_2.png) [@ef4](https://discuss.emberjs.com/u/ef4)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 5:50pm UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/willtransition-will-not-fire-without-hash/15111/2 "2018-07-12T17:50:36Z")

</div>

Presumably it doesn’t fire because you’re getting a whole-page load instead. That’s the expected behavior. When you type in a new URL, the browser is always going to go and fetch it.

`hash` is special because browsers know that everything after `#` is local to the given page, so they don’t need a full refresh if only the hash is changing. The traditional use for `#` is links that stay within the current document.