hi, i wonder is there a way to change the behavior when a file is uploaded to Downloads system by adding a link to a file (as opposed to uploading the file) and when a user clicks download link he is then taken to offsite download page in the same window making him leave my site. can this be done is it is opened in a new tab instead?

Hm, not really I think (out of the box) because we just redirect the request to the endpoint. You'd need to build a gateway page that opens the link in a new tab. It wouldn't be super difficult but I don't think there's a built in option to do this.

How about ading a selection how that is handled in the next version? :)

You should post requests for changes in future versions in the feedback forum where they'll be reviewed and gauged appropriate. I don't think something like this is going to make it into 4.5 at the least.