A hyperlink in ArcGIS Survey123 opens the website on the same page as the survey

Description

In ArcGIS Survey123, clicking a hyperlink in the survey opens the website on the same page as the survey, causing data in the survey to disappear without being saved. With certain browser settings, a dialog box pops up to warn of the risk of proceeding to open the website, as shown in the image below.

Cause

In the ArcGIS Survey123 Connect XLSForm, the hyperlink is configured using a general HTML <a> tag, as shown in the code and image below. The general HTML <a> tag opens the website to the same page as the source page.

<a href=https://WebsiteURL>WordsToAppearOnScreen</a>

Solution or Workaround

To open the hyperlink in a new tab, add the target="_blank" attribute after the website URL, as shown in the code below.

<a href=https://WebsiteURL target="_blank">WordsToAppearOnScreen</a>

In the ArcGIS Survey123 Connect XLSForm, identify the cell containing the hyperlink and configure the HTML <a> tag with the target="_blank" attribute in the label field, as shown in the image below.

Clicking the hyperlink configured with the target="_blank" attribute opens to the website on a new tab.