Can external URL targets be specified?
Asked by Spence:

When linking to an external link/URL, is it possible to specify a target so that the link will open in a new window or tab. For the use case of linking user to external URL's without taking them away from Confluence.


Answers:
author: AhmadDanial
body: Hi there, Spencer.

Officially, this requirement was raised as a Suggestion in the following link:

* [CONFCLOUD-34088: Provide the ability to create a link in Confluence that will open in a new tab](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-34088)

I encourage you to visit the suggestion page linked above and click the *Vote* and *Watch* links near the top right to show support for the feature. By doing this, it will ensure you are proactively informed of progress and updates going forward.

You can also share your feedback by leaving a comment on the ticket as this helps us prioritize \& understand the use case of the feature request.

Meanwhile, you can consider the default way to open links on a new tab on browsers in general by referring to the steps below:

* You can click a link, with the **scroll** button of your mouse.
* You can CMD + Click on the link on Mac OS
* You can CTRL + Click on the link in Windows
* You can right click on the link and decide to open it a new tab / window

Hope this helps to clarify the question that you have here.

comments: author: Spence
body: Hi Ahmad, I have voted and will follow this feature request. Doesn't look promising as it looks as if the feature request was made 4 years ago and has few votes.

After some digging I did find some other references to advanced link options (to open an external link in a new tab) that could potentially be enabled using an HTML macro. I see that there's a third party plugin available for subscription for the cloud version, But do you know if this can be enabled on the server version?


author: AhmadDanial
body: Hi there, Spencer.

Can you please share to me the add-on that you came across for Cloud so I can check if it is also available on Server too? If it is free, I can also proceed to test on my end to see if it is working as we expect. Thanks.


author: Spence
body: Hi Ahmad, this was the thread I cam across that references the cloud version of an HTML macro.

<https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-questions/How-do-I-enable-HTML-Macro/qaq-p/319946>

and here's the third party plugin linked within that thread, called macro toolbox html

[https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1215202/macro-toolbox-html-tabs-expand?hosting=cloud\&tab=overview\&_ga=2.268337421.2040695618.1536064662-1187559829.1531921176](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1215202/macro-toolbox-html-tabs-expand?hosting=cloud&tab=overview&_ga=2.268337421.2040695618.1536064662-1187559829.1531921176)


author: AhmadDanial
body: Hi there, Spencer.

Thank you for sharing. The add-on you shared only provides Cloud offerings apparently, so it is not available for Server. Since this question was raised under Confluence Cloud, can you please confirm if you are actually running on Confluence Server instead?

If you are actually on Confluence Server, you can actually refer to the steps highlighted in the official documentation here to re-enable the html macro (disabled by default to avoid [cross site scripting attacks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-site_scripting):

1. Go to ![](https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/files/747833194/747833195/2/1517274813281/cog.png) \> **Add-ons**.

2. Select **System** from the drop down and search for the **Confluence HTML Macros**add-on.
3. Expand the add-on and enable the **html (html-xhtml)** module.

Let me know how that goes on your end. Thanks.


author: Victor Mutambuki
body: Spencer,

Are you asking about pages or confluence URL?

victor

comments: author: Spence
body: Hi Victor,

I'm asking about linking to external third party pages, and having those hyper links open in a new browser tab/window. Rather than loading in the same window and taking the user away from confluence.

Spence


Tags: cloud

confluence-cloud