Issue with Hyperlinks in Storyline & Rise in Microsoft Edge

Dec 15, 2020

Tessa Maki
By Tessa Maki

Since we switched to Microsoft Edge corporate-wide, we're running into an issue with hyperlinks in Storyline and Rise courses in our LMS. From other things I've read, it sounds like this is a browser thing and nothing can be changed in the course, but I'm still going to throw it out here if anyone has any ideas or maybe I missed a thread that can point me in the right direction. (Note: we also have this same issue if courses are opened with Chrome.)

When a course is opened, it has a launch page within our LMS (Saba Cloud). The Storyline/Rise course then opens in a new window. When a hyperlink is opened from the course, it opens in a new tab of the original browser window with the LMS launch page. When the learner closes out of the hyperlink, it brings them to the launch page not the course. The course is still open, but returning to the launch page makes the learner think it's not. If they close the launch page, it does close the course. (Although a waste of time and minorly frustrating, if there are no triggers related to the hyperlink, there's not really any harm done if they need to reopen the course where they left off. However, if the link happens to be a prerequisite for advancing in the course, the trigger doesn't register and they can get stuck in a loop.) We try to put reminders in the course to either right click and open a link in a new Window or to press Alt+Tab to find the course after closing out of a hyperlink, but many don't remember this.

Does anyone have any tricks to force a hyperlink to open in a new window on top of the course? I've found some things that sort of work, such as a lightbox slide with a web-based object in SL or a WBO on a layer that launches in a new window, but both tend to be tedious and not ideal in all situations. They also don't work for Rise, where we are starting to do more development.

Any ideas or links to other threads that might help would be appreciated!

~Tessa

17 Replies
Marc Brown
3 years ago02/17/21 at 9:43 pm (UTC)

Hi Tessa. We are experiencing the same issue as we use Saba as our LMS as well. We resolved it in Storyline by using the Execute JavaScript function and use the attached script. It is working well. I will ask, did  you find a way in Rise to fix this issue. The options in Rise for a URL link are very limiting compared to Storyline. What fix did you apply? Thanks.

Tessa Maki
3 years ago02/18/21 at 4:36 am (UTC)

Thanks so much for this info, Marc! Since I reported the issue, we had another project come up to implement some new software, so my focus has been shifted away from any development in Rise. Unfortunately I haven't been able to work towards a solution, nor have I taken Lauren up on their kind offer to assist! If/when I can get back to this, I'll be sure to report back if we find a solution. 

In the meantime, perhaps the reports of others having the issue will lead to Articulate providing additional options for the URL links in Rise.

Lauren Connelly
over 2 years ago09/22/21 at 1:26 pm (UTC)

Hello Kari!

When hyperlinks open in Rise, they utilize a new browser tab. We've logged the option to control how hyperlinks open (same tab, new tab, pop-up/lightbox) as a feature request. I've linked this discussion so that you'll be notified if this approach changes. We'll be sure to keep this thread updated!

Kari Olson
over 2 years ago09/22/21 at 2:16 pm (UTC)

Hello Lauren,

Thanks for your response on this issue. Question: Do you have any idea if this option for controlling how hyperlinks open will come to fruition and if so the timeline on it?

Background: Recently, our department purchased Articulate 360 suite for several associates and this link issue is a big deal. Currently, we (the developers) build webpages so we can manipulate the code to open links as a pop-out in front of main course. This way our agents/learners don't get lost while going through our training. We had wanted to bring on board more developers that didn't need to know HTML/CSS and could build courses using Articulate Rise. However, management will not accept hyperlinks opening in a new tab and minimizing the main course to the task bar. I really want us to be able to utilize the Articulate 360 suite, so I'm hoping your answer to my above question is a positive one.

Thanks for any clarification you can provide.

 

Becca Levan
over 2 years ago09/23/21 at 4:21 pm (UTC)

Thanks for following up with these extra details, Kari!

I'm sorry that I don't have a specific timeline to share at the moment. I understand how this feature would benefit your environment, so I've added your comments to the report we're tracking for our team to review.

You're in the right place for future updates, and in the meantime, I wanted to share insight on how we manage feature requests.

Tessa Maki
over 2 years ago11/22/21 at 11:57 pm (UTC)

Hello All -

I just wanted to share a workaround that I've found for this issue. It's ugly...like, really ugly, but the end result works to get the hyperlinks opening in a new browser, if you find it worth the effort. I'm planning to use it in Rise courses that don't have too many hyperlinks. In the courses that have many hyperlinks, the instructions will emphasize at the beginning that the link opens in a browser tab that will make them feel like they exited the course upon closing, but that the course is still open and they need to press Alt+Tab to find it.

The basic idea of the workaround is to create a Storyline course (one slide) that has buttons that open hyperlinks in a new window (done using WBOs on a layer that opens in new window full screen when clicking the button), and then embed the Storyline course (slide) into your Rise course at the point you want the learner to access the hyperlink(s). Here's the general steps of how to create:

1. Create a slide in Storyline that has one or more buttons to launch the hyperlink(s) you want learners to access. (I made the dimensions of my slide 720x125, so it fits into the flow of the Rise course without taking up extra room.)

2. On your Storyline slide, have the button trigger to show a layer that has the hyperlink as a Web Based Object (WBO) set to display in new browser window, window size>Full screen, and check to load the web object automatically.

3. Adjust the player to remove all of the extras. I edited the player colors to make the border blend in. I use the Classic player, but I don't know that that matters. Also be sure to remove the Next/Prev button from the slide. You want the end result to be that it only shows the button(s) and any intro text you may choose to add right above it.

4. Publish the 1-slide course to Review 360. Test it to ensure it works as intended.

5. In your Rise course where you want the hyperlinks, go to All Blocks>Interactive>Storyline and select the Review360 course that you just published. This will place the buttons in the flow of your Rise course. When clicked, the hyperlinks should open in a new browser window full screen. When the browser is closed, it will return to the Rise course.

6. If you make any edits to the Storyline course, you will need to republish to Review360. Unfortunately, this does not automatically update the embedded Storyline slide in the Rise course. You will need to edit that to direct to the newly published version.

Again, this is very inefficient and ugly, but I was happy to at least find a way to do it. I'm still playing around, so I will update with any efficiencies I find. 

Susie Benner
over 1 year ago01/27/23 at 5:51 pm (UTC)
Lauren Connelly

Hello Kari!

When hyperlinks open in Rise, they utilize a new browser tab. We've logged the option to control how hyperlinks open (same tab, new tab, pop-up/lightbox) as a feature request. I've linked this discussion so that you'll be notified if this approach changes. We'll be sure to keep this thread updated!

Any update on whether this has made it into your backlog yet? This is a huge sore spot for us with our engineering team and key stakeholders. We need to be open to control how hyperlinks in Rise open. Thanks!

Jose Tansengco
over 1 year ago01/30/23 at 2:04 pm (UTC)

Hi Marc,

Browsers are what determine whether a hyperlink will open in a new window or tab. You can check out this article for a more detailed explanation on this behavior. 

There isn't a way to control this behavior in Rise 360, and the feature request that was opened for this requirement is still open. We'll let everyone subscribed to this thread know as soon as we have any new updates to share! 

Marc Brown
over 1 year ago01/30/23 at 2:20 pm (UTC)

I understand how hyperlinks open in a browser. Not my first rodeo. You can easily add functionality to Rise to fix this issue. Add a drop down on what behavior you want to do on a hyperlink:

  • Open the linked document in a new window or tab
  • Open the linked document in the same frame as it was clicked
  • Open the linked document in the parent frame
  • Open the linked document in the full body of the window

Obviously, you can shorten the names but this should not be difficult and shouldn't take over a year to get this enhancement through. Try working on the main pain points that customers are dealing with instead of cosmetic updates. At least we can do a work around in Storyline for this with a JavaScript call to open in a new window. In Rise our hands are tied. Please untie them!!!

Brendan Mannion
8 months ago08/25/23 at 12:20 pm (UTC)

Hi Mark, can't believe this issue has been open for so long and still doesn't seem resolved. I have just noticed it in one of our live courses. I wanted to ask, your Javascript Storyline workaround above, are you able to advise how you implement this? I am an experienced user of Storyline but not too familiar with javascript and coding, so I just didn't know where this information needed to be included to get it to work.

Marc Brown
8 months ago08/25/23 at 2:53 pm (UTC)

Hi Brandon! Yes, mind boggling isn't it. I've had it with Articulate support. Zero help. Use the method below in Storyline. There is no way to accomplish this in Rise. I also attached a document that has images in it as those wouldn't paste correctly.

When you need to link to a document that isn’t on a server, use the method below to utilize the JavaScript open in new window code.

  1. add a button off the main canvas area. This will serve as the placeholder of the PDF that will be attached.
  2. Give the button the following trigger:
    • Action -> Open URL/File
    • File -> Link to the physical file on Shared Drive
    • When -> User clicks. Note: I suggest naming the button the filename you’ll be linking to for easier editing especially if there will be multiple files on the page.
  1. Create your link or button within your course
  2. Add the following JavaScript code to the action of the button or link:

var myWindow = window.open("story_content/external_files/YOUR_FILE_HERE.FILE", "_blank","width = 810,height = 610,scrollbars = 1,resizable = 1");

That’s it! Your local file will now work in the same fashion as an external link.

Sign In to Reply