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To quickly access a cell, document, or web page, you can insert hyperlinks into your Excel spreadsheet. Just paste a hyperlink, give it a readable label, and click to follow the link. Here are some ways to insert hyperlinks in Excel.
You can use Excel’s built-in link function, the HYPERLINK function, or simply enter a URL that becomes a link automatically. Let’s look at each of these methods so you can use the one that works best for you.
Use the link function
Like other Office applications like Word and PowerPoint, Excel offers a links tool that gives you some flexibility. You can link to an existing file, a web page, a location in a sheet, or an email address. You can even insert a link to create a new document.
RELATED: How to link to another sheet in Microsoft Excel
Go to the cell where you want to add the link. Open the Insert tab, select the Link dropdown menu and choose “Insert Link”. Alternatively, right-click, move to Link and choose “Insert Link”.
When the Insert Hyperlink box opens, you’ll see your link options.
Existing file or web page: Choose a file from the current folder or recent files list, or choose a web page from the scanned pages, or enter the URL in the Address box.
Place in this document: Select the sheet and enter the cell in the box above or choose a defined name.
Create a new document: Give the document a name, optionally change the path, and choose when to edit the new document.
Email address: Select a recently used email address or enter one near the top. Optionally, enter a subject line. You’ll only see this option if you save the workbook locally instead of automatically to OneDrive.
text to display: At the top of the Insert Hyperlink box, you can enter the display text that you want to use for the link instead of displaying the link itself.
Once you complete the fields for the option you chose above, click “OK” to insert the link into the cell.
Advice: You can hover over the hyperlink to see the path.
Insert function HYPERLINK
An alternative to the link function is the HYPERLINK function in Excel. With this feature, you can create a custom formula that links to an existing sheet, a workbook on your intranet, or a file on another drive. You can also link to a Word document or directly to a Word bookmark.
RELATED: How to reuse or move a bookmark in Microsoft Word
The formula syntax is HYPERLINK(location, text) where the first argument is required and contains the full path and filename as the link. For the second argument, you can enter text enclosed in quotes or a cell reference to display descriptive text for the link.
To link to cell A1 on Sheet2 within the current workbook (NewBook.xlsx) with the display text Click Here, you would use this formula:
=HYPERLINK("[NewBook.xlsx]Sheet2!A1","Click Here")
To link to cell A1 on Sheet2 in a workbook on the web (in our case it is in https://oursite.com/report.xlsx) and display the text View Report, you would use this formula.
=HYPERLINK("[https://oursite.com/report.xlsx]Sheet2!A1","View Report")
To link to the Proposal bookmark in a Word document (in our case it is C:UsersSandyDesktopWordDoc.docx) with the text to display in cell D1, you would use this formula:
=HYPERLINK("[C:UsersSandyDesktopWordDoc.docx]Proposal",D1)
For full details and additional options for the feature, take a look at how to use the HYPERLINK feature.
Type or paste a URL
If you want to add a hyperlink in Excel for a website or page, just enter the URL or paste it into a cell. Once you do so and press Enter or Return, the URL becomes a clickable link. It’s faster than using the link tool or the HYPERLINK function, and is especially useful if you don’t necessarily need the link to look attractive.
RELATED: How to Paste Raw Text Almost Anywhere
However, there is a setting that you will need to enable for this to work. It’s a hyperlink setting that may be enabled by default, but you should still check to make sure it hasn’t been disabled. To verify the settings, select File > Options and choose “Verification” on the left. On the right, click “Autocorrect Options.”
In the box that opens, go to the AutoFormat As You Type tab. Check the Hyperlinked Internet and Network Paths box in the top section. Click “OK” to save the change and “OK” again in the Excel Options box.
Now you can simply enter or paste a web link into a cell and press Enter or Return. You should see the URL linked and you can click to visit the site or page.
To use the display text for the link instead of the URL, you can use the HYPERLINK function with the location Y text arguments described above. Or, right-click on the cell and choose “Edit Link”. Then, enter the text from the screen at the top and click “OK” to save it.
Using hyperlinks in Microsoft Excel, you can quickly jump to another place, sheet, file, or site on the web. Keep these methods in mind when creating your next Excel sheet.
For more information, see How to link or embed an Excel sheet in Word.
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