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Opening a board URL in the Desktop App by passing it as a parameter


When I click a link to a Miro board, I want it to open in the Desktop App. I use BrowserChoser to delegate to different Apps by domain of the URL. When it starts the Miro.exe with the URL as a parameter it just starts the Desktop app as a new instance. What I expect is to open the board in the running instance.

In other words:
How can I call the desktop app from the command line and pass a URL to a board to be opened?
Preferably in the already running instance?

Clicking on a LInk in chrome it works just fine, it asks if I want to use the Miro app and then adds the Board as a tab in the running app.

Was it helpful?

5 replies

It appears that miro cares naught for usability.  This has been a problem for many, many, many years.  The fact that it is difficult to move from a browser tab to a native app is very, very frustrating.  And… highly likely to be ingored for many years to come.


Kenneth Ritley
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  • Active Contributor
  • 161 replies
  • October 15, 2023

If you are looking to start Miro from the command line, one way it might work is -- instead of starting the Miro app from the command line -- start your browser from the command line, and ensure the browser will then start the Miro app.

I just tried this on my Mac by using a terminal window:

open "https://miro.com/app/board/...

It started my browser and, as usual, I got a message box asking me if I wanted to open the Miro app.

I also was able to open the Miro app directly from the command line on my Mac by doing the following:

open -a miro "https://miro.com/app/board/..." 

Not sure how this would work on a Windows PC, or exactly what you are looking for, I am sure, but maybe it solves part of the problem?


Robert Johnson
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  • Volunteer Community Moderator
  • 7282 replies
  • October 15, 2023

@DerBastian - I have always been curious as to how this all worked, i.e., telling the OS – Windows here – which app should opened a URL.

I started by searching my registry for “realtimeboard” and “miro” which led me to a few sites with some info, and upon some search refinements, I learned that this method appears to be called “Custom Browser Protocols” – while that may have been known to some, it wasn’t to me.

My final best sources:

And what I ultimately learned, is that I can open the Miro desktop app directly from the Run dialogue box as follows:

  1. miroapp://miro.com/app/board/uXjVNaD0000=/
  2. "C:\Users\[USER ID]\AppData\Local\RealtimeBoard\Miro.exe" "miroapp://miro.com/app/board/uXjVNaD0000=/"

Hopefully this leads you to a solution.


@Robert Johnson 
Thanks for your hint.


On my windows machine invoking

miroapp://miro.com/app/board/uXjVNaD0000=/

from the browser address bar worked.

From command line it wouldn’t work.
But your 2nd approach also worked (note: Miro app has to already run) - but just pasting it into the browser with the “miroapp://” prefix seems to be the easiest.
 


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  • New Here
  • 1 reply
  • June 4, 2024

Thanks guys. The miroapp protocol works.

It just does not solve my issue: I get a link to a board in an email for example. There it is a normal https-link: https://click.account.miro.com/...

But its the same with the normal share links: https://miro.com/app/board/...

I would have to rewrite it into “miroapp://”.

 

My current workaround is:

  1. opening the miro links with my browser
  2. login into miro
  3. then after the board loads, the browser triggers the miroapp:// automatically and the board opens with the desktop app

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