---
title: "Link to another application with application links"
canonical: "https://support.appfire.com/space/CVP/69174133/Link%20to%20another%20application%20with%20application%20links"
format: markdown
---
> Macro (aura-html)

<span style="color: #000000">This article illustrates the process of linking Confluence to another application using </span><span style="color: #000000">[application links](https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/integrating-confluence-with-other-applications-233148856.html)</span><span style="color: #000000"> (sometimes called app links or AppLinks).</span><span style="color: #000000"> URLs to this linked application are treated as direct links and do not need any further authentication.</span><span style="color: #000000"> Creating app links has many advantages such as:</span>

- <u><span style="color: #000000">Security:</span></u><span style="color: #000000"> Password is only required to authenticate user credentials when an application link is created.</span>
- <u><span style="color: #000000">Usability:</span></u><span style="color: #000000"> Authentication is done only when the application link is created, thus, frequent prompts for user credentials are avoided.</span>
- <u><span style="color: #000000">Seamless access across the platform</span></u><span style="color: #000000">: Administrators have to configure application links only once for permitted users to access the app.</span>

> ℹ️ ### Prerequisites for creating app links:
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">To lin</span><span style="color: #000000">k Confluence to another app, you must be an administrator on both the apps.</span>
> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">Atlassian recommends that you use OAuth with impersonation authentication if you select the </span><span style="color: #000000">*The servers have the same set of users*</span><span style="color: #000000"> option when linking.</span>
> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">You require a working URL link for the application you want to link with Confluence.</span>

## Steps

1. <span style="color: #000000">Create the required application link in Confluence administration as m</span><span style="color: #000000">entioned in the Confluence support page on</span> <span style="color: #000000">[application links](https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/linking-to-another-application-360677690.html)</span><span style="color: #000000">. Once the linking is successful, you can see the status as </span><span style="color: #000000">*Connected*</span><span style="color: #000000"> in green.</span>  
> Macro (inline-media-image)
2. <span style="color: #000000">On your Confluence page, add a </span><span style="color: #000000">*Visio Viewer*</span><span style="color: #000000"> macro and then open the macro editor, or edit an existing macro to see the macro editor.</span>
3. <span style="color: #000000">You can directly enter the raw</span><span style="color: #000000"> URL in the macro's </span><span style="color: #000000">*URL to Visio file*</span><span style="color: #000000"> parameter</span><span style="color: #000000">. As an example, the following screenshot shows how you can enter an </span><span style="color: #000000">absolute URL that points to a linked Bitbucket </span><span style="color: #000000">instance</span><span style="color: #000000">:</span>
4. <span style="color: #000000">See the </span><span style="color: #000000">*Preview*</span><span style="color: #000000">, or click </span><span style="color: #000000">**Save**</span><span style="color: #000000">. At this point, you are prompted to enter your login credentials. If the login is successful, the linking of your application with Confluence is complete, and on further access to this linked application, authentication is skipped and the required Visio file is rendered on the page.</span>

> ℹ️ ### Points to remember
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">Administrators can link other Atlassian applications such as Bitbucket or Jira with Confluence using application links.</span>
> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">If a URL that contains the base URL of a linked application is given in </span><span style="color: #000000">*URL to Visio file*</span><span style="color: #000000"> in the macro editor, it acts like a direct link to the required Visio file. For example, if the URL used to link Bitbucket with Confluence is </span><span style="color: #000000">*https://bitbucket.domain.com*</span><span style="color: #000000">, and the URL in </span><span style="color: #000000">*URL to Visio file*</span><span style="color: #000000"> is </span><span style="color: #000000">*https://bitbucket.domain.com/repository/file.vsd*</span><span style="color: #000000">, the macro recognizes this link and directly renders </span><span style="color: #000000">*file.vsd*</span><span style="color: #000000"> on the Confluence page without asking for user credentials.</span>
> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">Application links take precedence over profiles and other URLs when URLs are processed in macros</span><span style="color: #000000">. If an application has been linked with Confluence and a URL related to the application is given in any of the macros, these are processed first.</span>
> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">After the links are created, user credentials are authenticated only once when an application linked URL is processed through a macro.</span>
> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">Once user credentials have been verified through a macro, URLs given from a verified application link then </span><span style="color: #000000">acts</span><span style="color: #000000"> like an absolute path to the file location.</span>
> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">Application links, if created, allow users to directly access the required file(s) through any of the macros. On the other hand, profiles are a means to access files in other external locations without exposing any sensitive information such as user credentials and so on.</span>