Can you have a URL open in a different tab when linked in a Form?

KevinHarrisCHT

Currently if you click on the link, it takes you away from the form and you lose your progress. Can this open in a new tab? If not, any suggested work arounds for this? TYIA

Jeff Reisman

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/92811/can-you-have-a-url-open-in-a-different-tab-when-linked-in-a-form

Can you add some screenshots of what you're seeing?

I added a simple hyperlink to http://www.yahoo.com into my test form, and when I clicked on it from within the form itself it opened in a new tab, and the form progress was not affected.

Jeff Reisman

@KevinHarrisCHT

It's got to be a local browser setting somewhere.

I put your URL into my form and it opens in another tab both in Chrome and Firefox.

Jeff Reisman

@AmandaWebb

If you're using the Chrome browser, your users can hold down the Ctrl button when clicking the link to force it to open in a new tab.

However you shouldn't even need to do that! When you create the hyperlink on the form, Smartsheet is building it with the target="_blank" option in the html; this forces Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera browsers to open the link in a new tab.

Jeff Reisman

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/92811/can-you-have-a-url-open-in-a-different-tab-when-linked-in-a-form

Can you add some screenshots of what you're seeing?

I added a simple hyperlink to http://www.yahoo.com into my test form, and when I clicked on it from within the form itself it opened in a new tab, and the form progress was not affected.

KevinHarrisCHT

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for this! I had my hyperlink as part of the help text you can add to specific questions on your form. I see that the hyperlink in your example is using the Header/Description field you can insert into the form and not a specific question. I tried that and it worked successfully so that may be the best workaround. Below is a screenshot of the hyperlink within a specific question and this link takes over the form and you lose progress as well as a screenshot of your approach which is working great. I am going to move forward with your approach, although I find it odd in general that the hyperlink within a specific prompt redirects you from the survey. Let me know if you need additional screenshots for context and additional learnings from this.

Thanks,

Kevin

Jeff Reisman

@KevinHarrisCHT

What do your underlying URLs look like? What browser are you using?

When I added it into the Help Text field, clicking the link from the form still opened in a new tab.

KevinHarrisCHT

@Jeff Reisman

Apologies for the delay. The URL I am hyperlinking is below and I am using this in Google Chrome. That is interesting that it is working no problem for you. Are you in a different browser?

http://www.wmkeck.org/grant-programs/research/eligibility-and-priorities

Jeff Reisman

@KevinHarrisCHT

It's got to be a local browser setting somewhere.

I put your URL into my form and it opens in another tab both in Chrome and Firefox.

KevinHarrisCHT

@Jeff Reisman Awesome, thanks so much for all your help! I'll do some digging into this.

Tara Devlin

@KevinHarrisCHT Were you able to solve for this? I'm experiencing the same as you - links in the Form Title Description open in a new tab, but not links in the help text for any Field.

KevinHarrisCHT

Hi @Tara Devlin ,

Jeff above was giving some useful guidance but I was not able to successfully have the URL open in a new tab when in the help text. I would suggest first trying his directions. However, below is the fix I came up with which was suitable for the team needing to use this form.

Thanks,

Kevin

araregilme

Hi!!

Experiencing the same thing.

When I click the link it takes you away from the form and you lose your progress.

Do we have a solution for this?

AmandaWebb

I tried the workaround using the Heading/Description for links. Worked for a couple of days, but now it is no longer working?? I spent a few hours modifying the rules/logic to accomodate for this change and now it seems it was all for nothing. It shouldn't be this difficult to open a link in a new tab. While it could possibly be a browser-related setting, in a large organization with hundreds of users having to validate/modify that isn't really an option.

Jeff Reisman

@AmandaWebb

If you're using the Chrome browser, your users can hold down the Ctrl button when clicking the link to force it to open in a new tab.

However you shouldn't even need to do that! When you create the hyperlink on the form, Smartsheet is building it with the target="_blank" option in the html; this forces Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera browsers to open the link in a new tab.

Melinda Roy

I reached out to Smartsheet support several months ago regarding this same issue (i.e., the links I'm adding to my forms are opening in the same window as the form). Initially, they open in a different tab/window. The next day, they open in the same window. Smartsheet support pointed me to this discussion thread. I tried the workaround as suggested (i.e., placing the links in a separate description field instead of the help field). Just like Amanda, the workaround seemed to work, but only temporarily. This phenomenon is happening in Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome. If this is related to a browser setting, I find it odd the behavior changes by itself. There's got to be something else going on? Has anyone found any browser settings that can be updated to keep this from happening? Asking my end users to hold down Ctrl before clicking the link is too clunky/not viable.

Jeff Reisman

@Melinda Roy Are your browser settings 100% open to you, or are some managed by your organization's System Admins? If managed, they may be enforcing a policy that overwrites your settings.

You can check to see how Smartsheet is building the links in the html for the form page. Open the form, then click on Chrome's menu, go to More tools, and then Developer tools. Highlight the link in the form, and it should go to it in the developer window so you can see how it's formed. If it's set like this, with the target="_blank" attribute, then it has to be a browser setting overriding the html.

If that's the case, I suggest reaching out to your org's geeks... I mean, system admins!

Melinda Roy

@Jeff Reisman Thank you! Yes, it looks like the browser settings are overriding the HTML. I was able to edit the HTML and now the link is opening in a new tab again. Hopefully it sticks!

Melinda Roy

Update on the above: I just looked at a different form I created a few months ago and the links in that form are still opening in a new tab. So I'm not convinced it's a browser setting that's causing the issue...