Settings > General > Link Opening > Wavebox (App Matcher)
By default, when you click on an outbound link (one that goes from one app to another), Wavebox tries to match it with another app in Wavebox. For example, if you click on a Grammarly link in Trello, Wavebox will open it in the Grammarly app in Wavebox. If Wavebox can't find Grammarly, the link will open as a Grammarly tab in Trello. This is called 'App Matcher' in Settings (see image above), and it enables Wavebox to learn as you work.
When Wavebox comes across a new outbound link, it displays the Link Engine sidebar (see image above), so you can accept or reject the match. If the link opens in the correct place for your workflow, all you have to do is 'okay' the rule and save it for next time.
Making changes to link rules.
You can make changes to saved rules, and also create new rules in Settings. Click on the sidebar cog icon to open the Settings window, then scroll down to the 'Link Opening' section, and click on 'Customize link open rules for each app'. This will launch the Link Opening Rules window and reveal list of all your sidebar apps. Click on any app icon to see the Rule Manager. If you've been using Wavebox for a while you may see some rules there already. Here's the one we just created for Trello:
On the left hand side of the Rule Manager is the Rule Engine. The default rule for an app is 'App Matcher,' but you can click on the dropdown to bring up other options:
- Wavebox (App Matcher) - links will find the correct app in Wavebox.
- Default browser - the link takes you outside of Wavebox and opens in your OS default browser e.g., Chrome. This option can cause issues with some links, please refer to this KB article for more information.
On the right side of the Rule Manager, you'll see the Rule Actions. The default setting here is 'Auto-open in-app,' but you can click on the dropdown to bring up other options:
- Open as a tab - the link will open as a new tab in the app you're using.
- Open in a new window - the link will open in a new Wavebox browser window.
- Auto-open in-app - the link will open in the matched app: If the app is awake, it will open as an app tab. If the app is sleeping, it will open in the main app and replace what was there.
- Open and replace matched-app - the link will always open in the main app regardless of sleep status (replacing the existing page, note that you may lose work).
- Open as a tab in a matched app - the link will always open as a tab, regardless of sleep status.
Creating new link rules.
To create a new rule, click on the app icon to reveal the Rule Manager, followed by the blue + icon. The add rule box will appear, with the following settings:
(1) Match - type in the URL you want Wavebox to detect. e.g., for Google forms, type in docs.google.com/forms. If you're unsure about the URL, find an example link in any Wavebox window and hover over it - the URL is shown at the bottom-left corner of Wavebox for you to copy and paste.
(2) New tab action - so now we need to tell Wavebox how to open links that start with the URL you just added. The options are the same as in the Link Action dropdown from the Rule Manager (described above).
(3) App - finally, we need to tell Wavebox where to open the links. The dropdown will show a list of all apps that share the same cookie container.
Some example link rules.
For the most part, I use 'App Matcher' for everything - nearly all my work apps are in the same cookie container, and so they work great together. But I have made some slight changes to the rules to match the way I work, and here are a few examples:
Slack -> Freshdesk.
I've set up a rule so that my Freshdesk links in Slack open in the main Freshdesk window, replacing anything that's already there. So I've selected 'Open and replace matched app' from the dropdown in Rule Actions. Freshdesk saves on-the-fly so I don't need to worry about losing any work, and I like to concentrate one ticket at a time.
Ghost & Tailwind -> New window.
When writing a new blog post, or editing a new page on the website, I like to preview them in a new window, alongside the original, rather than in an app tab. So I created a new rule just for the 'preview' links in both apps; 'blog.wavebox.io' and 'tailwind.build/preview', and selected 'Open in a new window' from the Rule Actions dropdown. Perfect!
Bee Pro - > New window.
Similarly, I like to test all the links in any new email I'm creating in BeePro to open in a new window, rather than in a new tab (when you're checking 20 links, it's quicker to close a window than 20 individual tabs). The email links are mostly to blog posts or our website, so I created two new rules; one for 'blog.wavebox.io' and the other for 'wavebox.io' and select 'Open in a new window' from the Rule Actions dropdown.