# Issue using URL Param Passthrough and External Link Targeting simulataneously

**URL:** <https://sygnal-attr.discourse.group/t/issue-using-url-param-passthrough-and-external-link-targeting-simulataneously/1070>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [January 15, 2025, 9:21pm UTC](https://sygnal-attr.discourse.group/t/issue-using-url-param-passthrough-and-external-link-targeting-simulataneously/1070 "2025-01-15T21:21:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rkulkarni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@rkulkarni](https://sygnal-attr.discourse.group/u/rkulkarni)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 9:21pm UTC](https://sygnal-attr.discourse.group/t/issue-using-url-param-passthrough-and-external-link-targeting-simulataneously/1070/1 "2025-01-15T21:21:24Z")

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Hey team, thanks for the awesome tools.

There are 2 requirements for the landing page I’m building:

1. Carry through URL params for tracking
2. Open external links in a new tab

To achieve this, I was trying to use both [External Link Targeting](https://attr.sygnal.com/sa5-url/external-link-targeting) and [Query Param Passthrough](https://attr.sygnal.com/sa5-url/query-param-passthrough) on the site.

I notice **when I only use one or the other** , the tool works as expected. The param passthrough works fine when I remove config.targetExternal = true, but no longer opens in a new tab. When I remove all config.passthrough settings, the new tab works but of course with no param passthrough.

Are they not meant to be compatible? Is there some issue with my config?  
I am not sure if I can share the site without the owners permission but I’ll see… Thanks for any insight!

This is my site code:

```auto
<!-- Sygnal Attributes 5 | Needed for URL PARAM PASSTHROUGH --> 
<script defer src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/sygnaltech/webflow-util@5.4.25/dist/nocode/webflow-url.js"></script>

<!-- Sygnal Attributes 5 | Url External Link open in new tab | Config -->
<script>
window.sa5 = window.sa5 || [];
 window.sa5.push(['urlConfig', 
    (config) => {
      config.targetExternal = true;
      config.passthrough = true;
      config.passthroughConfig = {
         ignorePatterns: ["ignore", /_page$/],
         overwriteExisting: false,
         internalOnly: false
       };
      return config;
    }]); 
</script>

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![memetican](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/sygnal-attr.discourse.group/memetican/32/9_2.png) [@memetican](https://sygnal-attr.discourse.group/u/memetican)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 6:39am UTC](https://sygnal-attr.discourse.group/t/issue-using-url-param-passthrough-and-external-link-targeting-simulataneously/1070/2 "2025-01-21T06:39:31Z")

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Hi R,

That’s interesting, I’d need to see the published site in order to determine anything, but I’ve made a guess that might work.

First, the Url querystring passthrough feature is a _very_ outdated feature that was intended as a super crude referral-tracking feature. It’s not something we’d ever use on client sites, since there are more important considerations on referral tracking, like a 30 day attribution window.

Both of those Url features should work fine- the querystring passthough forms URLs directly rather than mucking with the HTML. It now checks for a `target` on the clicked link and makes an effort to recreate “open in a new tab” from JavaScript.

Keep in mind, that’s a rather browser-specific thing, so test it well to see if it meets your needs.

You’ll need to update to `5.4.29` to try to new feature.