diff --git a/src/ui/public/chrome/__tests__/_tab_fake_store.js b/src/ui/public/chrome/__tests__/fixtures/stub_browser_storage.js
similarity index 73%
rename from src/ui/public/chrome/__tests__/_tab_fake_store.js
rename to src/ui/public/chrome/__tests__/fixtures/stub_browser_storage.js
index a678440d14b78..812cd85ce4d75 100644
--- a/src/ui/public/chrome/__tests__/_tab_fake_store.js
+++ b/src/ui/public/chrome/__tests__/fixtures/stub_browser_storage.js
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 const store = Symbol('store');
 
-export default class TabFakeStore {
+export default class StubBrowserStorage {
   constructor() { this[store] = new Map(); }
   getItem(k) { return this[store].get(k); }
-  setItem(k, v) { return this[store].set(k, v); }
+  setItem(k, v) { return this[store].set(k, String(v)); }
   removeItem(k) { return this[store].delete(k); }
   getKeys() { return [ ...this[store].keys() ]; }
   getValues() { return [ ...this[store].values() ]; }
diff --git a/src/ui/public/chrome/__tests__/tab.js b/src/ui/public/chrome/__tests__/tab.js
index add635bf7e2c1..cc3d3ab1b4ba2 100644
--- a/src/ui/public/chrome/__tests__/tab.js
+++ b/src/ui/public/chrome/__tests__/tab.js
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 import sinon from 'auto-release-sinon';
+
 import Tab from '../tab';
 import expect from 'expect.js';
-import TabFakeStore from './_tab_fake_store';
+import StubBrowserStorage from './fixtures/stub_browser_storage';
 
 describe('Chrome Tab', function () {
   describe('construction', function () {
@@ -88,7 +89,7 @@ describe('Chrome Tab', function () {
     });
 
     it('discovers the lastUrl', function () {
-      const lastUrlStore = new TabFakeStore();
+      const lastUrlStore = new StubBrowserStorage();
       const tab = new Tab({ id: 'foo', lastUrlStore });
       expect(tab.lastUrl).to.not.equal('/foo/bar');
 
@@ -100,7 +101,7 @@ describe('Chrome Tab', function () {
     });
 
     it('logs a warning about last urls that do not match the rootUrl', function () {
-      const lastUrlStore = new TabFakeStore();
+      const lastUrlStore = new StubBrowserStorage();
       const tab = new Tab({ id: 'foo', baseUrl: '/bar', lastUrlStore });
       tab.setLastUrl('/bar/foo/1');
 
@@ -114,7 +115,7 @@ describe('Chrome Tab', function () {
 
   describe('#setLastUrl()', function () {
     it('updates the lastUrl and storage value if passed a lastUrlStore', function () {
-      const lastUrlStore = new TabFakeStore();
+      const lastUrlStore = new StubBrowserStorage();
       const tab = new Tab({ id: 'foo', lastUrlStore });
 
       expect(tab.lastUrl).to.not.equal('foo');
diff --git a/src/ui/public/chrome/__tests__/tab_collection.js b/src/ui/public/chrome/__tests__/tab_collection.js
index 419e00a0fa321..1bfa9c20b8f34 100644
--- a/src/ui/public/chrome/__tests__/tab_collection.js
+++ b/src/ui/public/chrome/__tests__/tab_collection.js
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import expect from 'expect.js';
 
-import TabFakeStore from './_tab_fake_store';
+import StubBrowserStorage from './fixtures/stub_browser_storage';
 import TabCollection from '../tab_collection';
 import Tab from '../tab';
 import { indexBy, random } from 'lodash';
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ describe('Chrome TabCollection', function () {
 
   describe('#consumeRouteUpdate()', function () {
     it('updates the active tab', function () {
-      const store = new TabFakeStore();
+      const store = new StubBrowserStorage();
       const baseUrl = `http://localhost:${random(1000, 9999)}`;
       const tabs = new TabCollection({ store, defaults: { baseUrl } });
       tabs.set([
diff --git a/src/ui/public/chrome/api/__tests__/angular.js b/src/ui/public/chrome/api/__tests__/angular.js
index 51b77b57df0a6..4f93d284a6924 100644
--- a/src/ui/public/chrome/api/__tests__/angular.js
+++ b/src/ui/public/chrome/api/__tests__/angular.js
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import expect from 'expect.js';
 
 import kbnAngular from '../angular';
-import TabFakeStore from '../../__tests__/_tab_fake_store';
 import { noop } from 'lodash';
 
 describe('Chrome API :: Angular', () => {
diff --git a/src/ui/public/chrome/api/__tests__/apps.js b/src/ui/public/chrome/api/__tests__/apps.js
index e50fe59e57ef1..273635b9cc418 100644
--- a/src/ui/public/chrome/api/__tests__/apps.js
+++ b/src/ui/public/chrome/api/__tests__/apps.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import expect from 'expect.js';
 
 import setup from '../apps';
-import TabFakeStore from '../../__tests__/_tab_fake_store';
+import StubBrowserStorage from '../../__tests__/fixtures/stub_browser_storage';
 
 describe('Chrome API :: apps', function () {
   describe('#get/setShowAppsLink()', function () {
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ describe('Chrome API :: apps', function () {
     describe('#get/setLastUrlFor()', function () {
       it('reads/writes last url from storage', function () {
         const chrome = {};
-        const store = new TabFakeStore();
+        const store = new StubBrowserStorage();
         setup(chrome, { appUrlStore: store });
         expect(chrome.getLastUrlFor('app')).to.equal(undefined);
         chrome.setLastUrlFor('app', 'url');
diff --git a/src/ui/public/chrome/api/__tests__/nav.js b/src/ui/public/chrome/api/__tests__/nav.js
index 2161c63d6ce7a..8dffa7e4eebbe 100644
--- a/src/ui/public/chrome/api/__tests__/nav.js
+++ b/src/ui/public/chrome/api/__tests__/nav.js
@@ -1,45 +1,73 @@
 import expect from 'expect.js';
 
 import initChromeNavApi from 'ui/chrome/api/nav';
+import StubBrowserStorage from '../../__tests__/fixtures/stub_browser_storage';
 
 const basePath = '/someBasePath';
 
-function getChrome(customInternals = { basePath }) {
+function init(customInternals = { basePath }) {
   const chrome = {};
-  initChromeNavApi(chrome, {
+  const internals = {
     nav: [],
     ...customInternals,
-  });
-  return chrome;
+  };
+  initChromeNavApi(chrome, internals);
+  return { chrome, internals };
 }
 
 describe('chrome nav apis', function () {
   describe('#getBasePath()', function () {
     it('returns the basePath', function () {
-      const chrome = getChrome();
+      const { chrome } = init();
       expect(chrome.getBasePath()).to.be(basePath);
     });
   });
 
   describe('#addBasePath()', function () {
     it('returns undefined when nothing is passed', function () {
-      const chrome = getChrome();
+      const { chrome } = init();
       expect(chrome.addBasePath()).to.be(undefined);
     });
 
     it('prepends the base path when the input is a path', function () {
-      const chrome = getChrome();
+      const { chrome } = init();
       expect(chrome.addBasePath('/other/path')).to.be(`${basePath}/other/path`);
     });
 
     it('ignores non-path urls', function () {
-      const chrome = getChrome();
+      const { chrome } = init();
       expect(chrome.addBasePath('http://github.com/elastic/kibana')).to.be('http://github.com/elastic/kibana');
     });
 
     it('includes the query string', function () {
-      const chrome = getChrome();
+      const { chrome } = init();
       expect(chrome.addBasePath('/app/kibana?a=b')).to.be(`${basePath}/app/kibana?a=b`);
     });
   });
+
+  describe('internals.trackPossibleSubUrl()', function () {
+    it('injects the globalState of the current url to all links for the same app', function () {
+      const appUrlStore = new StubBrowserStorage();
+      const nav = [
+        { url: 'https://localhost:9200/app/kibana#discover' },
+        { url: 'https://localhost:9200/app/kibana#visualize' },
+        { url: 'https://localhost:9200/app/kibana#dashboard' },
+      ].map(l => {
+        l.lastSubUrl = l.url;
+        return l;
+      });
+
+      const { chrome, internals } = init({ appUrlStore, nav });
+
+      internals.trackPossibleSubUrl('https://localhost:9200/app/kibana#dashboard?_g=globalstate');
+      expect(internals.nav[0].lastSubUrl).to.be('https://localhost:9200/app/kibana#discover?_g=globalstate');
+      expect(internals.nav[0].active).to.be(false);
+
+      expect(internals.nav[1].lastSubUrl).to.be('https://localhost:9200/app/kibana#visualize?_g=globalstate');
+      expect(internals.nav[1].active).to.be(false);
+
+      expect(internals.nav[2].lastSubUrl).to.be('https://localhost:9200/app/kibana#dashboard?_g=globalstate');
+      expect(internals.nav[2].active).to.be(true);
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/ui/public/chrome/api/nav.js b/src/ui/public/chrome/api/nav.js
index d993baa216ef9..e39b179e4b7c2 100644
--- a/src/ui/public/chrome/api/nav.js
+++ b/src/ui/public/chrome/api/nav.js
@@ -40,25 +40,72 @@ export default function (chrome, internals) {
   }
 
   function refreshLastUrl(link) {
-    link.lastSubUrl = internals.appUrlStore.getItem(lastSubUrlKey(link));
+    link.lastSubUrl = internals.appUrlStore.getItem(lastSubUrlKey(link)) || link.lastSubUrl || link.url;
+  }
+
+  function getAppId(url) {
+    const pathname = parse(url).pathname;
+    const pathnameWithoutBasepath = pathname.slice(chrome.getBasePath().length);
+    const match = String(pathnameWithoutBasepath).match(/^\/app\/([^\/]+)(?:\/|\?|#|$)/);
+    if (match) return match[1];
+  }
+
+  function decodeKibanaUrl(url) {
+    const parsedUrl = parse(url);
+    const appId = getAppId(parsedUrl);
+    const hash = parsedUrl.hash || '';
+    const parsedHash = parse(hash.slice(1), true);
+    const globalState = parsedHash.query && parsedHash.query._g;
+    return { appId, globalState, parsedUrl, parsedHash };
+  }
+
+  function injectNewGlobalState(link, fromAppId, newGlobalState) {
+    // parse the lastSubUrl of this link so we can manipulate its parts
+    const { appId: toAppId, parsedHash: toHash, parsedUrl: toParsed } = decodeKibanaUrl(link.lastSubUrl);
+
+    // don't copy global state if links are for different apps
+    if (fromAppId !== toAppId) return;
+
+    // add the new globalState to the hashUrl in the linkurl
+    const toHashQuery = toHash.query || {};
+    toHashQuery._g = newGlobalState;
+
+    // format the new subUrl and include the newHash
+    link.lastSubUrl = format({
+      protocol: toParsed.protocol,
+      port: toParsed.port,
+      hostname: toParsed.hostname,
+      pathname: toParsed.pathname,
+      query: toParsed.query,
+      hash: format({
+        pathname: toHash.pathname,
+        query: toHashQuery,
+        hash: toHash.hash,
+      }),
+    });
   }
 
   internals.trackPossibleSubUrl = function (url) {
+    const { appId, globalState: newGlobalState } = decodeKibanaUrl(url);
+
     for (const link of internals.nav) {
-      link.active = startsWith(url, link.url);
+      const matchingTab = find(internals.tabs, { rootUrl: link.url });
 
+      link.active = startsWith(url, link.url);
       if (link.active) {
         setLastUrl(link, url);
         continue;
       }
 
-      const matchingTab = find(internals.tabs, { rootUrl: link.url });
       if (matchingTab) {
         setLastUrl(link, matchingTab.getLastUrl());
-        continue;
+      } else {
+        refreshLastUrl(link);
       }
 
-      refreshLastUrl(link);
+      if (newGlobalState) {
+        injectNewGlobalState(link, appId, newGlobalState);
+      }
     }
   };