How to open links in new browser tabs?

[Scott McNeely]

We use Jira Cloud, and it's annoying that all links are opened in the same browser tab. Is there a way to change this setting?

[Steve Gehlen]

We would like to have the exact same configuration capability.  Everytime I open a link in a Notification, Comment, or Description I want it to open in a new tab (by just clicking on it, nothing extra).  I would think that 80% - 90% of Jira users want to open external links in a new tab so the new external page doesn't replace the ticket content.

SG

[Scott McNeely]

Hi Steve. There's a ticket that was opened 16 years ago here asking for the same thing. Many of us are frustrated that the Atlassian team continually and repeatedly ignore the community's request for this most basic functionality.

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-9380

We are asking people to open new tickets, reference the above ticket, and continue to agitate for Atlassian to pay attention to its users.

[Martin Sundberg]

Why is this basic feature not part of the product yet? It's been years since it was first requested! 

[gulovkhurshed]

Same problem. It's really inconvenient everytime hold Cmd button to open link, most of the time I still forgot do this 😵‍💫

Add target="_blank" please to links by default.

[Matt Klee]

Or you have to do a google search to look for threads to see how to do this and then be surprised it isn't supported. Oof. 

Your product has lots of integrations that make it useful for many people these days, such that your audience extends well beyond whoever has learned and retained that cmd + [click] opens a link in a new tab. So many other websites open external links in new tabs. It just works.

Even just offering it as an option would be huge. Folks can choose for themselves.

I guess it's only 2022, though. Let's give them another 8 years.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

It would be a better question to ask for "open in new tab when it is appropriate and not going to confuse the user"

One of the biggest UI complaints I run into nowadays is "I have too many tabs in my browser".  Just stop inflicting that on people.

It's ok (but not great) to open a new tab when you click on something that leads outside the current system.  It's definitely right when that tab isn't going to lead back to what you were doing before - when it's a corollary, not part of the work.  (Example - click on "help" - that should always leave you with your original page, and pop another that explains the stuff on the page you still have open).

But it's horribly wrong when people are just trying to read relevant stuff.

Don't do it, default to "change page" and let the user choose if they want o open (yet another) tab or window.

[Petter Gonçalves]

Hello @Scott McNeely

Thank you for reaching out!

Can you please provide us what is the links you are talking about?

In Jira application, there are several links and buttons you can click that leads to a different page or feature, each one works obeying its architecture and can not be changed since Cloud does not allow UI modifications.

That being said, most of the links/buttons in Jira can be opened in a new browser tab by holding the Command button while clicking on it, like any other web application.

Let us know if this information helps.

[Scott McNeely]

Hi Petter,

In Task/Epic Description and Comment fields, I'd like to open external links in new browser tabs. Is this not something I can configure in Jira Cloud?

[Petter Gonçalves]

Hello Scott,

Thank you for explaining.

As the Jira issue view uses the default link mechanism of web applications, you can open links in descriptions and comments by holding the Command/Crtl button while clicking on it.

Can you check if this works for you?

[Scott McNeely]

Hi Petter. 

Yes that works, and I can also right-click and do the same. But for users who aren't in Jira all the time, they don't remember to do this. A minor frustration, albeit a frustration all the same.

I'm surprised there's no way to configure this, as part of the settings for each project.

[Jack Crane]

Hi @Petter Gonçalves, this is still a HUGE annoyance, when we click a link in an Issue's comment thread it shouldn't redirect me off of the page to somewhere else. It is fine if it is displayed in an i-frame or opens a new tab, but it is not desired to click a link and be redirected to a new webpage on the same Jira tab I was working on.

Please provide a global or user setting to fix this ASAP :)

[Shrihari]

Yep opening links on the jira card should be of New Tab by default. It gets annoying when you forget to hold cmd/ctrl

[Sander van Ketel]

Very annoying that clicks on url's always opens in same tab by default. Should open in new tab by default. Forget to Ctrl-Click too often :(

[Thomas Richardson]

I am constantly losing track of what I was working on as a result of this missing functionality. It is extremely frustrating and a huge waste of actual time and mental energy.

The project I work on is in Jira Cloud. I use Firefox with the Open Link with New Tab extension.

I start my workflow from the Only My Issues default filter view.

I click on an issue.

While in that issue, I click on a related issue, or on a related external link, or on a related Confluence link to my Confluence instance on the same atlassian.net instance.

But of course it doesn't matter whether the link I click on is internal to Jira, or external, or Confluence on my same atlassian.net cloud instance; I'm immediately navigated to the new page regardless and my existing context is lost. I now cannot see the other links that were on that same issue that I also need to open in new tabs so that I can work across multiple tabs simultaneously and quickly jump between them as needed.

It's common that by the time I complete some small aspect of my overall task, I either need to smash the BACK button a dozen or more times to get back to the original Jira issue or I just estimate that I'm better off closing the tab and starting over, hoping to be able to remember where to fork off to complete some other small aspect of my overall task.

Confluence Cloud on the same atlassian.net instance as my Jira Cloud instance has this bog-standard functionality. If I want to, I can click on a single link in Confluence Cloud to my heart's content, and every time I do, it loads the linked page in a brand spankin' new tab.

My Confluence instance is hosted on the same atlassian.net instance as my Jira instance.

Why does Jira not do the exact same thing that Confluence does?

Is Jira run by the Dharma Initiative?