Integration usually means sharing data between two systems; however, it is also important to be able to easily navigate between systems. In this recipe, we will create navigation links for applications and other resources that JIRA can integrate with.
Perform the following steps to set up navigation links in JIRA:
- Navigate to Administration | System | Application Navigator.
- Enter the name for the navigation link. This should either be the name of the application or the system you are linking to or the name of the resource.
- Enter the URL for the navigation link.
- Check the Hide option if you want to hide the link from everyone temporarily.
- Select the groups that can see the link, or leave it empty if you want everyone to be able to see it.
- Click on Add to create the link.
The Application Navigator window should look something like the following screenshot:
Every application integrated with JIRA through the Application Link feature will be automatically added to Application Navigator, and you cannot delete these applications unless you delete the link between the applications. This is shown in the preceding screenshot, where Confluence does not have a Delete button available.
For all other links that you add, they can be any arbitrary links. One of the most common use cases is to create links as shortcuts to specific pages, such as portal sites or company policy pages.
The links added will be displayed by clicking on the application navigator icon at the top-left corner. Note that if you do not have any links, the icon will not be displayed:
The application navigator is very easy to use. There is also an alternative add-on called Unified Navigation Plugin; you can get it from the following link:
https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/nl.tweeenveertig.navigator-plugin
With this add-on, the links appear at the top of the page so that they are easily accessible, and you are able to set the look and feel of the links:
