By definition in most platforms, a deep link takes you directly to specific content, through SSO, even if you are not currently logged into the platform. In the case of Absorb, the direct course links only work if you're already logged into the platform (or have another course window open). This does not serve the purpose of driving engagement from learners as the deep link implies one click access, but does not actually provide access without a few more clicks. Getting a link to a specific course which only takes you to the home page (unless already logged in - which most users are not, most of the time) makes the link look like it isn't fully functioning. In fact, when I first started sharing these links people thought they were broken because they would only get you as far as the homepage/dashboard.
Thank you all for this feedback. There are a couple ideas that are similar to this:
Deep linking ability for resources (Idea 1230)
Redirect to login page when a user navigates to a Global Resource link (Idea 590)
At this time we do not have this prioritized on our roadmap. It will be re-evaluated in the future so please continue to share your feedback and your votes here.
@William Grove-Fanning I remember seeing your comment on suggestion 1230 that it used to be available on an older version of Absorb. They really need to bring it back! I should've expanded on my comment down below saying that deep linking should be made available for global resources, and if Absorb ever allows for that to happen again, that it should work the same as this suggestion/idea is recommending for courses.
We are still in the deployment phase, but we have deep linking working with SS). We are using the Service Provider Intiated mode. We include the Course URL field in our enrollment notifications, and that works as well.
Also, @Rebecca Smith, global resources are not available for deep linking (regardless of log in issues) in the current build. But they used to be, and I have consistently asked to Absorb to bring back deep linking for Global Resources. Suggestion 1230 also asks for this feature. Fingers crossed!
You can sidestep this by having your developers wrap login credentials around the call when they develop the API. My company uses this with no login issues. May not be a solution for everyone, but you might check with your IT team.
We also run into this issue and would like to see this fixed as well. We often link to courses in our knowledge base and through other communications, and have to ask people to click twice: once to get in with single sign on, the other to get to the course. It's not a great user experience. it would be good to see deep links work properly with SSO.
I agree! We struggle with this too and have had many conversations over the last year with Absorb on this issue. This should also be the case for global resources.