diff --git a/build_docs.pl b/build_docs.pl
index 3a323537cf83..1c46b8b7876a 100755
--- a/build_docs.pl
+++ b/build_docs.pl
@@ -454,7 +454,7 @@ sub check_elasticsearch_links {
     # So we grab all quoted strings that contain `html`. This *should* be fine
     # for a while because the keys in the file are all in SHOUTING_SNAKE_CASE
     # so even if one contains "html" it'll contain "HTML" which doesn't match.
-    my $extractor = sub {
+    my $json_extractor = sub {
         my $contents = shift;
         return sub {
             while ( $contents =~ m!"([^"\#]+)(?:\#([^"]+))?"!g ) {
@@ -465,6 +465,15 @@ sub check_elasticsearch_links {
             return;
         };
     };
+    my $tabdelim_extractor = sub {
+        my $contents = shift;
+        return sub {
+            while ( $contents =~ m!"[^\t]+\t(.*)"!g ) {
+                return "en/elasticsearch/reference/$version/$1";
+            }
+            return;
+        };
+    };
 
     my $src_path = 'server/src/main/resources/org/elasticsearch/common/reference-docs-links.json';
     my $repo     = ES::Repo->get_repo('elasticsearch');
@@ -486,7 +495,19 @@ sub check_elasticsearch_links {
         # https://github.com/elastic/docs/issues/2264
         $branch = $version eq "master" ? "main" : $version;
         say "  Branch: $branch, Version: $version";
-        my $source = $repo->show_file( $link_check_name, $branch, $src_path );
+
+        my $links_file;
+        my $extractor;
+        my $source = eval {
+            $links_file = 'server/src/main/resources/org/elasticsearch/common/reference-docs-links.json';
+            $extractor = $json_extractor;
+            $repo->show_file( $link_check_name, $branch, $links_file );
+        } || eval {
+            $links_file = 'libs/core/src/main/resources/org/elasticsearch/core/reference-docs-links.txt';
+            $extractor = $tabdelim_extractor;
+            $repo->show_file( $link_check_name, $branch, $links_file );
+        };
+        die "failed to find elasticsearch links file;\n$@" unless $source;
 
         $link_checker->check_source( $source, $extractor,
             "Elasticsearch [$version]: $src_path" );