Redirect Tool - auto open in new tab

[jpierce2]

Is there a way to have the Redirect Tool auto open a link in a new tab instead of opening a page withing Canvas prompting a user to open the link in a new tab?

Thanks

Brad

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi  @jpierce2 ​...

I noticed that your question has been sitting here in the Community unanswered for over a month.    Have you been able to find any answers to your question?  I am going to share your question with the Canvas Developers​ group here in the Canvas Community in hopes that your question might get some additional exposure.  If you are not following that group, you can click on the link I've provided and then click on the "Follow" button.  Hope this helps, Brad!

[jpierce2]

HI Chris,

No answer the question yet.  Thanks for forwarding.

Thanks

Brad

[ebissoon]

Hi,

I've taken a look at this today as I find that answering (or attempting to answer) a question helps improve my own knowledge by looking into areas that I wouldn't normally venture in...anyway...I'm not the first person who has asked/answered a question related to the Redirect Tool. I found this particular community thread to be helpful though it won't give you the positive answer you're seeking; Redirect Tool app is there a way to assign a user role?

I've played with the Redirect Tool and have come to the conclusion that you cannot automatically open a new tab directly because the button it creates in the course navigation doesn't have the necessary coding for it:

<a class="context_external_tool_181 active" href="https://community.canvaslms.com/courses/237/external_tools/181" tabindex="0">BBC NEWS</a>

The code for opening the link in a new tab is only found after you have clicked on the Link in the Course Navigation:

<a class="pure-button pure-button-primary" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news" target="_blank">Open in New Tab</a>

The code target="_blank" is the key to opening a link in a new tab.

As I said I'm not the first to look into this and it's unlikely that Canvas will be able to get the Redirect Tool to do what you want as it is a third party app after all.

This likely isn't helpful to you but at least you now know that opening a new tab using the Redirect Tool [with one click] can't be done in its current form.

Sorry

E

[Robbie_Grant]

 @jpierce2 ​,

Were you able to find an answer to your question? I am going to go ahead and mark this question as answered because there hasn't been any more activity in a while so I assume that you have the information that you need. If you still have a question about this or if you have information that you would like to share with the community, by all means, please do come back and leave a comment.

Robbie

[GideonWilliams]

I just wish there was a little more checking of the LTIs because here is yet another one that does not do what it says it can do on Canvas.

Very frustrating and yet another added step to workflow

[elizabethagrant]

I was able to do this and make the redirect tool to open in a new tab when my link was internal to Canvas.

By doing the following:

Settings/APPS/Redirected Tool/Add

Go to Setting/ Apps/View App Configurations

Select the app you want to edit and in the custom field box, I changed the URL link to a url shortner and it opened in a new tab.

[jpierce2]

Elizabeth,

Were you able to get the link to open directly in a new tab?

Every time I create a Redirect link with any options I get the "Open in New Tab" page first:

We would rather see this page skipped, so that when you click on a custom link, it opens the link in a new tab without an extra step.

Thanks

Brad

[mfuller2]

This is still annoying by the way... Who built the Redirect LTI? Can we encourage them to fix it? Anyone know of any alternatives?

[GideonWilliams]

Please vote here! https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/10144-link-to-external-url 

Probably the only way we are going to get it fixed short of a new feature....

[Landmark_Coll]

This topic has a very long thread in a discussion about links to external sites from the Modules page at https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Idea-Conversations/Automatically-open-new-tab-for-links-external-... but that thread does not adequately address specific issue of the Redirect Tool that is the subject of this thread. Apparently, some changes were made to external links last year, but not for the Redirect Tool.

I'd like to keep this thread going until we get a solution specifically for the Redirect Tool.

[Carter41]

I'm 100% with you. Is it still a two-click process to open a Redirect Tool item from your course navigation in a new tab? No matter what options I select when setting up the Redirect Tool, I still see this screen.

 

[Draco]

This is an old thread but I've recently run into this issue and found a partial solution. While the page doesn't load in a new tab, it loads in canvas without the "Open in New Tab" Button. Go to Settings > Apps > Click "View App Configurations" button. Scroll to your redirect link and click the settings button. In the dropdown menu, click "Edit". In the "Custom Fields", you will see the redirect URL and the "new_tab" option which likely defaulted to new_tab=1. Change this to new_tab=_blank, and the page will likely embed within Canvas. I've done this with two links and both embedded.