[Admin Tools] Make all LTI placement types obey "open in new tab" rules set by the windowTarget blank property

[c_carrillo1]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas LMS

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Problem statement:

When adding LTI tools, we specify in the XML that the tool should open in a new tab/page/window by setting the property: lticm:property name="windowTarget" _blank This works properly for some placement types such as course_navigation placement. However, seemingly arbitrarily, it does not work for other placement types such as user_navigation or course_settings_sub_navigation placement. Canvas defies the property, does not set the target="_blank" link attribute, and does not open the link target in a new page/tab/window. This idea is to fix this issue and have Canvas obey the open-in-new-tab attribute for ALL LTI placements/placement types.

Proposed solution:

The proposed solution is to have Canvas obey the open-in-new-tab attribute for ALL LTI placements/placement types for all LTI tools. If we specify the following attribute, please follow the intention and open the tool target in a new window regardless of which placement the tool link has. lticm:property name="windowTarget" _blank Thank you for considering this fix.

User role(s):

admin,designer

[c_carrillo1]

There is a duplicate of this idea.  This is the correct one, please retain this one. Thank you.

[AlexisNast]

Thanks for the suggestion! This has been added to the "Improve ability for tool developers to use same functionality between Canvas and other LTI Platforms" theme for further consideration.

[KristinL]

  Comments from Instructure

This feature is available in Beta. For more information, please read through the Canvas Deploy Notes (2025-07-02) 

How do I access the Canvas beta environment as an instructor?

[KristinL]

Comments from Instructure

For more information, please read through the Canvas Deploy Notes (2025-07-02)