This allows you to redirect to another website, but also allows you to include data from Canvas in the link.

An example of how this can be used is to have a link in the course navigation that takes users to the syllabus for the course that is held outside Canvas, but can be looked up by the SIS ID. By entering a link of:
https://syllabus.institution.edu/details/${Canvas.course.sisSourceId}.html
When a user clicks on the link from a course with a SIS ID of ug-123 they will get redirected to:
https://syllabus.institution.edu/details/ug-123.html
This same link can be used in all courses without someone having to manually set it up.

The following values can be substituted in the URL:

• ${Context.id}
• ${Context.sourcedId}
• ${Canvas.account.id}
• ${Canvas.account.name}
• ${$Canvas.account.sisSourceId}
• ${Canvas.course.id}
• ${Canvas.course.name}
• ${Canvas.course.sisSourceId}
• ${com.instructure.Course.integrationId}
• ${Canvas.user.id}
• ${Canvas.user.loginId}
• ${Canvas.user.sisSourceId}
• ${Canvas.user.sisIntegrationId}

Details of the values of these values are outlined on: https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/file.tools_variable_substitutions.html

When configuring a redirect some sites will block their content from appearing inside of Canvas, for these sites you need to enable the “Open link in new tab” option which will present an intermediary pages that allows a new tab to be opened.

The navigation checkboxes allow you to control where is Canvas the link is shown. To configure this after adding the external app there is documentation from Instructure for a account or course.

If you select to enable the “User Navigation” placement the external app must be added to the root account in Canvas.