diff --git a/config.toml b/config.toml
index b3046bbb1..a482b14b7 100644
--- a/config.toml
+++ b/config.toml
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ render_emoji = false
 
 # Whether external links are to be opened in a new tab
 # If this is true, a `rel="noopener"` will always automatically be added for security reasons
-# external_links_target_blank = false
+external_links_target_blank = true
 
 # Whether to set rel="nofollow" for all external links
 external_links_no_follow = true
diff --git a/templates/shortcodes/row.html b/templates/shortcodes/row.html
index 5950f30ad..1e72ad2a4 100644
--- a/templates/shortcodes/row.html
+++ b/templates/shortcodes/row.html
@@ -36,9 +36,7 @@ Parameters:
 {% endif %}
 
 <!-- makes external links in row open in new tabs-->
-{% set body = body | markdown | replace(from='href="', to='target="_blank" href="') | safe %}
-{% set base_url = get_url(path="")%}
-{% set body = body | markdown | replace(from='target="_blank" href="' ~ base_url , to='href="' ~ base_url) | safe %}
+
 
 <!-- Splits body to columns -->
 {% set columns = body | safe | markdown | split(pat="|||") %}