Open external links in new tab or window

Tobias Knecht November 2, 2011

Hi,

every time I click on a link in confluence or a link in a jira comment that is aiming to an external website it opens the link in the same tab as jira studio. Is there a possibility to general open external links in a new tab?

Haven't found it so far.

Thanks,

Tobias

13 answers

1 accepted

3 votes
Answer accepted
JamieA
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November 2, 2011

There is a full example of what Dieter is talking about here: http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/How+to+Force+Links+to+Open+in+a+New+Window

It can be done just by stuffing that stuff in the custom html, as well as a speakeasy extension, or using {html} macros, if that is enabled on the hosted confluence.

David K September 15, 2016

Stuffing what stuff?

The link is dead...

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Dmitry Kashkarov April 27, 2018

that is only valid for JIra Server

23 votes
David K September 15, 2016

Like everything else in JIRA, there is no easy way of doing it. :|

Josh Fruhman March 31, 2021

I wish they would sort this out. 

Like Roberto VS likes this
2 votes
Azwandi Mohd Aris
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November 3, 2011

I believe there is no way to achieve this in JIRA, however, the workaround in the first comment in this improvement request might work - https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRA-9380.

As for Confluence, adding a custom JavaScript code (as suggested by Jamie) is an option, but such modification is not allowed in OnDemand instances.

The least that you can do (as an end user) is to use CTRL+CLICK, which is a command understood by most modern browsers, to open the link in a new tab.

Azwandi Mohd Aris
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November 10, 2011

Related feature request for Confluence - https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONF-11194

Richard Burstiner September 4, 2019

For Jira, it looks like Atlassian has this slated for release in Jira 8.4:

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

"We've added the ability to open external links in a new tab in your browser and made this option default. However, if you like all links to open in the same tab, you can easily change this in YourUserProfile > Profile > Preferences > External links."

 

For Confluence, it looks like Atlassian has rejected the idea as "Won't Fix" in favor of plugins:

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFSERVER-11194

Like Chris Farace likes this
Stuart Rolland July 20, 2020

I don't have that option (in JIRA), is this something Admins can turn off?

1 vote
semioniy May 23, 2021

It's 2021 and jira cloud still opens links in the same window / tab.

I think you're better off using a browser extension than waiting for atlassian to implement something.

I use New Domain in New Tab in Chrome, works fine.

While at it, I also can recommend Hide Empty Labels on JIRA Boards extension - works nice as well.

Maybe there's smth for firefox as well, but me simp for google mate.

1 vote
Diego_San_Miguel September 5, 2019

Atlassian has this slated for release in Jira 8.4:

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

"We've added the ability to open external links in a new tab in your browser and made this option default. However, if you like all links to open in the same tab, you can easily change this in YourUserProfile > Profile > Preferences > External links."

It's finally coming.

Deleted user September 23, 2019

wow... took long enough

1 vote
Tomasz Banas September 18, 2015

SpeakEasy is not being supported anymore. So, I'm not sure what other options we have at this point. 

1 vote
Dieter
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November 2, 2011

This could be implemented using a SpeakEasy extension which scans the page for <a> tags and inserts the attribute target="_blank"

So it can be done but i cannot provide code here

Adrian Vital January 17, 2019

This works for me: 

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="XXXX">Link text</a>   

Emil Danstrøm January 22, 2019

Doesn't seem to work in the cloud solution

Nicholas Delkeskamp August 1, 2019

also, how annoying to write this code everytime you put a link anywhere???

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0 votes
thinhnk June 23, 2021

You can install this extension on chrome. It's work for Stackoverflow also.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stackoverflow-jira-extern/omobkjbchckaocdkcbeapemooohjgbnk

0 votes
Diego_San_Miguel May 26, 2020

To get around this, I've added the following code (via HTML block) to all my Confluence pages:

<script>
jQuery(document).ready(function() {
    jQuery(".external-link").attr("target", "_blank");
});
</script>

 

Still an issue in Jira and other Atlassian products.

Priyank Pratik August 24, 2020

I added above code in html block, but still it’s not working.

do we need to add anything else to make it work?

0 votes
Ryan Shillington December 12, 2019

This issue is being fixed in:

In JIRA Cloud, you have to be in the new issue view to have this turned on :-(.

Ilmurat Kerimov May 19, 2020

it is not fixed for the jira cloud unless you fall into a certain conditions i.e. using next-gen projects and some other strange stuff...

Casey Graves December 11, 2020

Update for anyone looking at this.  Atlassian posted and said they will not make this behavior possible to be set as universal for external links, even as a user/admin setting. 

0 votes
Diego_San_Miguel October 16, 2018

You can hold down Ctrl on Windows or  on Mac when clicking a link to have it open in a new tab. Alternatively, you can right-click the link and select Open link in new tab or drag and drop the link to browser tab. These seem to be the easiest ways to address JIRA not opening links in a new tab by default.

Emil Danstrøm January 4, 2019

That doesn't solve the issue, though. The topic is more on how to force links to open in a new tab.

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TJ Tyrrell April 23, 2019

Agreed... For example, if I am reading email in Google / Outlook / anything else, links default to a new tab or window. This is also a very common thing in similar tools where a comment may link to an external resource (like git, a news article, a link to a page on the site related to the ticket, etc). Even links to other tickets I would prefer to have open in a new tab.

Remembering to command / control click in the Jira tool, when every other tool that has external links defaults to a new tab is more of a nuisance than anything. Especially since it's technologically easy to implement (on display, if link, add link tag option target="_blank")... 

Thread started in 2011... It's 2019 and nothing yet :-/ 

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0 votes
Daniel Amaral - Autoglass August 17, 2018
Patrick_Lauwring_Moog October 4, 2018

This dosn't work for the cloud version.

0 votes
Stefan Greil February 26, 2018

I use this chrome plugin https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/open-in-new-tab/cplillmhmcegjlhcbedmgmalbgjpmlkh to force jira to open external links in a new tab.

Dmitry Kashkarov April 27, 2018

404 link

Patrick_Lauwring_Moog October 4, 2018

Doesn't work, or atleast not where it matters like links to pull requests / branches from Jira tasks

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