Looker Studio Button Keeps Opening New Tab Even When "Open in New Tab" is Unchecked

I’m experiencing an issue with the control button in Looker Studio when using a static link for navigation. Even though I have explicitly unchecked the “Open in new tab” option, the button still opens a new tab under certain conditions. Here’s what’s happening:

  1. I created a button to navigate to an internal report.
  2. After setting up the button and switching to View mode, it works correctly—it navigates to the link without opening a new tab.
  3. However, when I share the report with others, they report that clicking the button always opens a new tab, regardless of the setting.
  4. If I, as the creator, refresh my own page, the issue comes back, and the button starts opening a new tab again, even though the setting is still unchecked.

I’m wondering:

  • Is this a known bug in Looker Studio?
  • Is there a setting or workaround I might have missed?
  • Could this be a caching or permissions-related issue?

Any insights or solutions would be greatly appreciated!

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Facing the same problem. Would be happy if someone knows a soltuion for this issue.

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Am also having this issue, as well as some of my colleagues. Is anyone at Looker Studio working to correct this bug?

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I am also having an issue when checking the “Open in new tab” option. It defaults back to being “unchecked” in my case. Even if I check it again, it goes back to being “unchecked”. It is very annoying as all my reports for my clients work from a main menu that has action buttons. When clicked I need them to open in a new page. Looker Studio please look into this for us

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I also have the same issue. Furthermore - I have made a test in a new dashboard. The issue occurred when I Clicked the option “Open in a new tab” for one of the buttons. After that, all new buttons are affected and cannot restore then original functionality. I even try and delete all of the buttons and created new buttons, but they still opened in a new tab.

Will appreciate if someone have fix for it or some workaround!

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To edit the button’s functionality, click on it and select ‘Edit Link’ from the menu that appears. An image like the one below should appear, where you can choose whether to open the link in a new tab or not.

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Currently affected by the same issue as well! Tried checking and unchecking the “open link new tab” option and applying changes and recreating the navigation button entirely. Interestingly, the button initially works as intended with “open link new tab” disabled but when opening the dashboard on an incognito tab in Chrome, the button reverts to opening the page in a new tab. Subsequently, the buttons on the normal Chrome tab in edit mode revert to opening the page in a new tab too.

Did you read the title to this thread?

I’ve resorted to using the built in navigation :disappointed_face:

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Sure, but have you followed the steps? If you check the button properties from the options menu (as shown in the image below), you might see the “Open in new tab” option unchecked, even if it is actually enabled. However, if you edit the link as I mentioned in my previous response, you will see the button’s real behavior.

Hope this helps!

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As i state above on point number 3

Regardless of the setting, That doesn’t changes anything

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Eu também enfrentei o mesmo problema, mas descobri uma solução alternativa que impediu que ele abrisse em uma nova aba:

  1. Clique no botão e ele abrirá “Propriedades do botão” nas configurações.

  2. No URL do link do botão , altero de “Link estático” para “Link dinâmico (da dimensão)”.

  3. Desmarque a caixa de seleção “Abrir em uma nova aba”.

  4. E volte para o “Link Estático”

Depois disso, ele para de abrir em uma nova aba/janela.

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Hi !

Not sure if the issue is related but it might be. My problem is not on the control buttons but on a variable set up : I set up a variable but as soon as I send the link or refresh this set up is lost. Steps 4 and 5 mentioned in this post apply to my case too … :

https://www.googlecloudcommunity.com/gc/Looker-Studio/Variable-set-up-not-holding/m-p/881919#M7886

Same here. If you switch the “open in new tab” on and off and hit Apply it will work for a minute, but then always switches back to opening in a new tab.

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Obrigada por compartilhar! Funcionou aqui.

I have noticed this problem for a few months already. I checked in again to see if it has been fixed. Hopefully somebody is looking into this bug and is fixed soon.

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Hello,

Same problem here, I hope they will fix it soon..

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same problem. very frustrating after developing a complex menu

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Apologies for the trouble. We’re looking into it.

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I’m in the same situation… 2 weeks making the dashboard and all buttons opening in a new tab. Any news?

1 Like