Inserting an external link in Xd

[2Pop]

Hello,

I'm trying to insert an external link to a button in Xd (a web site URL or an e-mail adres) and can't find the function. Is there an option to do that in Xd?

Please help!!

[Preran · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for reaching out and sharing your feedback. We understand your eagerness for this feature. If you're visiting this thread for the first time, please submit your feedback here: Link to external URLs – Adobe XD Feedback : Feature Requests & Bugs and upvote the request.

As a workaround, you can check out the "Anima Plugin" in the XD plugin panel that can help you with linking to an external URL. Once you have the plugin installed, select the object in your design and click on the + icon in front of the link and to add the URL. 

Let us know if that helps.

Thanks,

Harshika

[srdjann56719789]

Hi Preran,
When are you going to create external link on XD so we can create a website URL link?

[SS__Sudhakar]

It's completed one year, still we are not get this feature

[james_mitchellw91910336]

why is it still under review??

i need this feature!

please add it soon!

[kmi22]

why is this still under review? these should be standard features. UXpin and other are so ahead of adobe .. i am really dissapointed

[Tina Bonis]

It is January 2021 and we are still waiting for it 😕

[too3cky]

It's almost March 2021, almost 3 years after this has been raised and it's still not here...

[Fraitz]

Nope ... almost 5 years:
https://adobexd.uservoice.com/forums/353007-adobe-xd-feature-requests/suggestions/12954396-link-to-e...

This is the Adobe Uservoice ... this issue is with 4400 votes and nota single line of code to solve it.

[Fraitz]

Just passing to say that I leave XD as my UX and UI Tool, I've been testing many different tools, anda Figma and UX Pin were the best of the simple ones, and for those who have and IOS Sketch is the best. 

I'm fine with Figma, and my big prototypes and design system is working fast in my mid config PC. Well, I hope you guys that are unhappy here do the same and stop hoping for some solution of a company who leave you behind for almost 5 years ... with a simple issue. Shame on Adobe XD.

[Lattke Communications]

… there was a time when I thought: "hey cool, Adobe is back in user oriented business" – but that was just a missunderstanding. Nothing behind that thought is true. Adobe is still the same arrogant company than before. But in this case you have missed the chance to get industrys leadership. Meanwhile all our clients force us to use Sketch for design and prototyping.

You should listen more and be more loyal to your customers.

[sayedaref]

I need this to!

[Chawakan]

Hay!!!! Hurry up  Sketch have done right now.

[Fraitz]

Hi Peran, if you give a look at the link that you posted you'll see more than 2100 votes for this feature! This feature has been asked for more than 3 years, why is this taking so long? You already have things like this in Adobe Acrobat, just put that lines of codes inside the XD with some adaptations. 

My think is that you have lost track of that request. 

[FuturelineMediaDenmark]

Hi Preran

Is it possible that it not yet an option to add en external link? That's unbelievable. When will this feature or plug in arrive? I see that it has been underway for three years!

[shreyasirudra]

Hi Preran

Is there a plugin for this feature yet in XD?

I second FuturelineMediaDenmark , it has been underway for three years!

It is much needed!!!!

[FuturelineMediaDenmark]

Wheeeeeeeeeeeen!!!?? 😫😫😫

[Peter Villevoye]

I wonder if this has (and should have) any priority...

The goal of XD is to let designers create a mockup, a prototype at best. So if you want to show how a button or anything serves as a link to a website or an email, add an artboard with a screenshot to mimic this behavior, and hook it up with that button. It's all a matter of make-believe, not to make it work for real...

[Lattke Communications]

@Peter Maybe it's not what you (or Adobe) intends to do with XD but about the way your users are using it! Your're right: usually we just design Websites or Apps with Tool like Sketch and XD. But yesterday I rapidly built up a onepage website as a menu for a restaurant … And I was thinking by mayself „why don't they combine their tools to one ecosystem? Why don't they have the posibility to hand over XD-Designed Sites to Dreamweaver or things like that … ?“ It feels a bit arrogant when you try to tell your users in which way they have to use your tool … I think you should have a look at the bigger picture and should work much harder on XD … just to get closer to Sketch … or to create a new type of standard!

[Peter Villevoye]

My perceived "arrogance" might be rooted in 34 years of using a mixed bag of tools of Adobe (and a few other brands) for various kinds of print and interactive media, and 28 years of experience with designing for the web (and about a decade for apps). I also once wished and expected tools to converge into one. I also thought having one tool or method to professionally design, create, produce, and publish print media, videos, websites, or apps would be fine. I've seen the many "Bigger Pictures" of various digital media ecosystems by now, but it didn't turn out that way. It never will...

For your onepager you could be happy with Wix, Squarespace or one of the zillion WordPress templates. But beware, client always want more...

[Lattke Communications]

I think you misunderstood what I'm trying to say. And beware of sentences like "it never will". I've heard a lot of people like you telling me things like that ("DTP-Tools can't do it all – you always have special cases where you have to edit the PS-Code" (!), "digital photography never will be used in an professional environment" a.s.o.). That's the behavior of Nokia or Microsoft! Things are changing. Possibilities are changing. You can ignore that. But it won't help you at all. 

And I really do know what you mean with Wordpress – believe me. As a Professional I should. But it was easy to design the first sketch on XD and then I decided to do leave it that way. And then I wondered why I can show it to a client but can't use it as a result! Everything works like designed and expected. So why not using it??? That's why I see  there could be much more (like other tools already do).

I expect much mightier tools for digital creative work. Right now it's like the world of DTP was before Quark XPress. I'm shure there will be real clever tools with ease of use for designers with huge possibilities and handovers to the code-people. (Other Tools are helpful for designers and the code-guys as well; for example to do the CSS-Coding). 

But I'm not talking about "one for it all". (Even when MS is bringing back an old Apple Idea with an integrated App-Ecosystem with APIs/Interfaces to other Softwareparts (which is very clever).)

[Monika Gause]

Companies have tried for 20 years to create webpages in a WYSIWYG manner. And they have failed. All of them. There are so many demands to fulfill for a website. And it's getting more and more. Those cannot be fulfilled in WYSIWYG environments, such as having a meaningful document structure, accessibility, decent on-page SEO, enriched user experience balanced with download speed, compatibility with a gazillion browsers, responsiveness on a gazillion devices. And this ever onging change of technology being implemented in devices and viewers.

That being said: for simple pages with not a lot of flexibility and expectation as to the cleanliness of your code you can maybe get along withthis Xd plugin: https://blog.prototypr.io/fireblade-plugin-for-adobe-xd-b6675055e11e

[Peter Villevoye]

I do understand what you're saying, but I just don't agree.

And please don't think of me as a conservative guy. My career and tools have changed drastically almost every five years. I embrace new ideas, even when 9 out 10 turn out to be disappointing.

Now DTP became a craft and an industry built on one single brand's inventions, acquisitions, and perseverance: Adobe. Their ambition and unique in-company integration made it possible for designers to produce, and for producers to design, which has been quite unique in any area or era. (And Canva is not cutting it as good as the holy trinity of AI, PS, and ID did.)

However, the web and all these apps are a totally different ball game.

These are not designed or built by one or even a few brands their proprietary technologies. It's a quickly growing and changing open world, and everyone will keep coming up with new technologies and tools. That sure is stimulating innovation, but it's hardly a boon for better integration or simplification. On the contrary: this jungle gets bigger and complexer, because everyone wants to distinguish themselves and become the better or best specialised tool. Look at cloud-services, online-collaboration, workflow and front-end tools from various developers. Do users fully understand them ? Do they work well together ? Is that bigger picture really getting more effective or efficient ? I beg to differ...

Especially in the last decade, I've seen the tasks and tools of a web and/or app designer and developer diverge, in stead of come together.

Oh yes, HTML and CSS look very straight-forward, that's because these are open standards in formatting – not developing techniques. So it's quite easy to say "Hey, why can't a design tool whip up the proper HTML and CSS ?" Well, a tool could do that. But that's just the beginning, the static content and styling. But any bit more demanding website or app also needs developers for scripts, frameworks, queries, and back-end systems. And that's where it starts to get messy.

Could you name any freeform web or app tool which combines design and development in one ?

Dreamweaver made attempts (many times) but was never satisfying. Muse tried, succeeded for a while, until users wanted more and more features to be implemented. WebFlow is a promising tool, let's see what comes of that...

[Fraitz]

Sketch, Webflow and UXPin ... they do what I need. 

[harunharun]

"Solved" and "Correct answer" should be two separated status of an answer. It could be a correct answer, but the feature is still not solved, like in this case. Come on Adobe. If we make a list of requested features ordered by major number of requests slash the least effort, this feature would be at the top.

For me this is not about adding a link to youtube or whatever external website, which essentialy would not add any value in the review/testing process. What I need this feature for is to link prototypes between them. Sometimes we manage separated files for separated environments (ex. ecommerce and admin are two separated XD files with separated prototype URLS). It is also useful when sharing a link to stakeholder to be able to send one link and not seven.