How to create a hyperlink in Word, Excel and PowerPoint files

Adding hyperlinks to your Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files is an easy way to give your readers quick access to information on the web, in another document or location without having to include that content right into your file. Let’s have a look at how to create, insert, manage, and remove hyperlinks in your documents.

What is hyperlink?

A hyperlink, you may also meet it called a link or web link, is a reference to data, that the user can easily follow by clicking, tapping on, or hovering over the link. For example, www.onlyoffice.com contains the address to the main page of the ONLYOFFICE website.

A hyperlink can be a piece of text, an image, an icon, and a simple click on it allows us to jump from the link to a different location or document. It can also point to a specific section or element within the same web page or file.

Hyperlinks are what connects web pages to other web sources. Without them, you would need to know an internet address for every page you visit, known as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). A URL is usually located at the top of the browser window in the address bar:

What are the advantages of hyperlinked documents?

Hyperlinks are a great way to connect a text in your document with other related information. So, dealing with texts, tables, and slides, you may use hyperlinks for the following:

• To make your file more informative and complete, so users can go deeper on the subject of interest,
• To switch to another document, table, or presentation while you’re reporting your results to colleagues,
• To jump to other parts of the same document quickly without scrolling to a needed content,
• To save time while searching for similar content and more details,
• To display web content: videos, images, or posts,
• To open up a mailbox for a new message.

How to create hyperlink in Word documents

Follow these simple steps to create a hyperlink in a Word document with help of ONLYOFFICE Document Editor:

• Select the text that you would like to display as a hyperlink.
• Go to the Insert or References tab of the top toolbar.

• Click the corresponding icon.
• Or select the Hyperlink option in the right-click menu.

• Then you can specify the link parameters in the opened Hyperlink Settings window:
  • If you need to add a hyperlink leading to a web page, use the External Link option, insert a URL in the format http://www.example.com in the Link to field. Press the CTRL key and click the link to jump from your document to the external website.
  • If you need to add a link leading to a certain place in the same document, use the Place in Document option and choose among the existing headings or the previously added bookmarks.
  • Put a text into the Display field that will get clickable and lead to the address specified in the upper field.
  • If you would like to add a small keynote about hyperlink content, just insert a description into the ScreenTip text field. The text will become visible in a small pop-up window when a hyperlink is pointed.
• Then click OK to get your hyperlink in the Word document ready.

You may use the Ctrl+K shortcut to open up the Hyperlink Settings window right away you type.

How to create links in Excel sheets

To insert a hyperlink in Excel table opened in ONLYOFFICE Spreadsheet Editor you have to:

• Select a cell where you would like to add a link.
• Go to the Insert tab of the top toolbar.

Or use right-click menu and choose the Hyperlink option.

• In the opened Hyperlink Settings window, you may choose:
  • the External Link button to create a hyperlink to a web page,
  • the Internal Data Range to insert a link in the Excel spreadsheet, you are currently editing, like a worksheet and a cell range, or a previously added Named range.

• And then click OK button.

How to insert hyperlink in PowerPoint slides

Execute the following steps to insert a hyperlink in PowerPoint presentation in ONLYOFFICE Presentation Editor:

• Place the cursor within the text box on the slide where a hyperlink should be added.
• Go to the Insert tab of the top toolbar.

Or choose the Hyperlink option from the right-click menu.

• After the Hyperlink Settings window appears, you can insert a link:
  • For an external web page, filling in the fields of the corresponding option,
  • Leading to a certain part in the same presentation, using the Slide In This Presentation:

• Click OK to insert a hyperlink in PowerPoint slides.

How to make a link look easy and pretty?

While making a good-looking text, do not forget to style all the objects, including links. Insert one into your document the way it is. For example:

It doesn’t hurt that much if it’s only one in your text file. But a couple of long links make your document look less attractive than it could be.

Or worse, when a link doesn’t look like a link. The reader only knows it is there when hovering the cursor over. It means that your colleagues won’t find the needed information.

So let’s have a look at how to make a good-looking hyperlink.

Mainly hyperlinks have a blue color and underlined text. The biggest part of programs uses this type of formatting by default. You may style a link the way you like it: add colors, make it bold, style with italics, add a background color, and so on. But remember to stay in line with the layout of the whole document, and make sure it’s still looking like a link.

It is also possible to create a hyperlink with an ‘anchor’ to a location in the same document. For example, we may add anchors to headings in a text document for faster navigation. A link may also open a new file or web content.

If the name of a source you’d like to add as a hyperlink is quite short and exact, you may leave it the way it is. So just delete the https//: prefix from the name (but not from the address) to make it more evident. For example, onlyoffice.com/blog.

Replace links and paths in your documents with hyperlinks automatically in ONLYOFFICE Docs. Just open up the Advanced settings window, go to Spell checking, and then choose AutoFormat as you type.

How to remove hyperlink

While working with documents, you may need to edit or delete the added hyperlink in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files. For example, when you copied a part of a text with irrelevant web addresses. So, just click it with the right mouse button, then select the Hyperlink option, and then the action you want to perform – Edit Hyperlink or Remove Hyperlink.

In this article, we discovered what hyperlinks are and how to deal with them with help of ONLYOFFICE editors. Watch this video to learn more about other useful features of the office suite:

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