I did try using jquery to add the target attr but wasn’t too successful. Come to think of it, I did start writing a function initially, but thought it might be too convoluted a process … but the link you provided might help – and it has given me other ideas as to what else I might be able to try.

Can I assume rightly that when in the admin panel, if the target for a menu item is selected to open in a new window/tab (_blank), that bit of info is stashed somewhere in the database? I searched the db “options” table but found nothing … you wouldn’t happen to know where I might look, would you?

I simply can’t believe how much time I am spending on trying to achieve something so simple ??

Not sure if you’ve already found a solution but I made the change in the database table. Unfortunately at the moment I can’t log in to find out which table I edited, but I’m sure you’d be able to work it out (would have been a table for settings). I simply changed _blank to _top for the relevant link.