A 3rd party plugin is available that reproduces some of this functionality.

Purpose

By default, links are opened in the same window. To force them to be opened in a new window, follow these steps:

Workaround

1. Logged into Confluence as an administrator, in the top-right corner click >> General Configuration >> Custom HTML
2. Click Edit
3. In the At end of the HEAD field, insert this code:

   • For external links only, like [http://www.google.com]:

     <script>
     jQuery(document).ready(function() {
         jQuery(".external-link").attr("target", "_blank");
     });
     </script>
     

   • For all types of links (internal and external):

     <script>
     jQuery(document).ready(function() {
         jQuery(".wiki-content a").attr("target", "_blank");
     });
     </script>
     

   • For including 'Live Search macro' result links on top of all types of links

     <script>
     jQuery(document).ready(function() {
         jQuery(".wiki-content a").attr("target", "_blank");
     });
     
     AJS.toInit(function($) {
     	AJS.$(document).bind('DOMNodeInserted', function(event) {
     	 if ( $(event.target).is(".search-macro-dropdown") ) {
     	       AJS.$("div.wiki-content a").attr("target", "_blank");
     	 }
     	});
     });
     </script>

4. Hit Save

If you'd like to use this functionality on a single page rather than the whole instance, enable the HTML Macro and embed this script in your page.

Keyboard Hotkey

On the other hand, user can also use the keyboard hotkeys below while clicking on a link that should work on most browsers: