Excel Hyperlinks

Excel Hyperlinks, What are they and how to use them in your workbooks. | Chandoo....
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Beam Me Up Scotty Excel Hyperlinks

Posted on March 31st, 2011 in Excel Howtos , Huis , Posts by Hui - 25 comments
What are Hyperlinks ?

A Hyperlink is a reference to a document, a location or an action that the reader can directly
follow by selecting the link.
Hyperlinks are used extensively on the Internet and are generally Words highlighted in
Underlined Blue < Like that.
The use of Hyperlinks in Excel has been extended to a number of areas and this includes:
Opening Files (of any type)

Opening Web Pages (Internet or Intranet)
Jumping/Navigating to locations within an existing document
Creating New Documents (Excel files only)
Sending Emails
Microsoft has added the ability to place Hyperlinks,
Directly on an Excel worksheet ,

Connected to a number of worksheet objects, including shapes, charts and wordart
Included as a worksheet formulas.
Programmatically using VBA
These 4 methods above will be discussed here.
Inserting Hyperlinks
As described above there are 4 methods for inserting hyperlinks in an Excel Workbook.
http://chandoo.org/wp/2011/03/31/excel-hyperlinks/ 13/11/2013
Excel Hyperlinks, What are they and how to use them in your workbooks. | Chandoo.... Page 2 of 14
Directly on an Excel worksheet
There are 3 ways to insert a Hyperlink directly into a cell, either:
Right click on the cell and select Hyperlink; or
Use the Insert, Hyperlinks Tab; or
Use a Keyboard Shortcut - Ctrl K
Connected to a number of worksheet objects, including shapes, charts

and wordart
You can also add a Hyperlink to many objects within Excel including Pictures, Shapes, Text
Boxes, Word Art and Charts.
Right clicking a lot of these objects brings up the Objects Shortcuts Menu, select
Hyperlink,
or
Select the object, Use the Insert, Hyperlinks Tab; or
Select the Object and Use the Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl K
Hint: Right Clicking on Charts Doesnt Show the Add Hyperlink option, so Select the Chart
and Ctrl K
Adding Hyperlinks using Worksheet Formulas.
Hyperlinks can be added using worksheet formulas.
=HYPERLINK( Link Location, Name)
Link Location: This is the path and file name to the document to be opened.
The Link Location can refer to a place in a document such as a specific cell or named range
in an Excel worksheet or workbook, or to a bookmark in a Microsoft Word document. The
path can be to a file that is stored on a hard disk drive. The path can also be the path on a
server or a URL, HTTP or FTP and a location of an object, document, World Wide Web page,
or other destination on the Internet or an intranet. The Link Location can be a text string
enclosed in quotation marks or a reference to a cell that contains the link as a text string.
Name:This is the text or value that is displayed in the cell. The Name is displayed in blue
and is underlined.
Eg:
Jump to a cell on Another sheet
=HYPERLINK(Sheet3!B3,Monthly Budget)
The above will add a Hyperlink, titled Monthly Budget and link to Sheet3!B3 of the current
workbook
Jump to a Named Range on Another sheet
=HYPERLINK(Budget,Yearly Budget)
The above will add a Hyperlink, titled Yearly Budget and link to the Named Range Budget
of the current workbook
Open a File on a network Drive
=HYPERLINK(//Server01\01 Administration\Administration.docx,Open Admin File)
The above will add a Hyperlink, titled Open Admin File and link to the file at: //Server01
\01 Administration\Administration.docx
Open a File on a network Drive at a specific bookmark
=HYPERLINK([//Server01\01 Administration\Administration.docx]Contents,Open Admin

File @ TOC)
The above will add a Hyperlink, titled Open Admin File @ TOC and link to the Named
Section Contents of the file at: //Server01\01 Administration\Administration.docx
Jump to a Web Page
=HYPERLINK(http://chandoo.org/wp/,Goto Chandoo.org)
The above will add a Hyperlink, titled Goto Chandoo.org and link to
http://chandoo.org/wp/
Send an Email
=HYPERLINK(mailto:chandoo.d@gmail.com,Email Chandoo)
The above will add a Hyperlink, titled Email Chandoo and send an email to
chandoo.d@gmail.com
Adding Hyperlinks Programmatically using VBA
Hyperlinks can be added to a worksheet or a worksheet object programmatically using some

simple code
Sheets(SheetName).Hyperlinks.Add Anchor:=Sheets(SheetName).Range(Range),
Address:=", SubAddress:=Address!Range, TextToDisplay:=Name
Where:
SheetName: The Name of the Sheet where the Hyperlink is to go
Range: The Range where the Hyperlink is to go
Address!Range: The address and Range linked to in the Hyperlink
Name: The Display Name of the Hyperlink
Types of Hyperlinks
There are 5 Types of Hyperlinks which Excel offers, each is described below:
Existing File
Existing Web Page
Place in This Document
Create a New Document
Send an Email Link
Existing File
Select the existing File or Web Page icon in the Link to: area
Navigate to the existing file using the Look in: area of the dialog
Add your Display Text in the Text to display: area
Add a ScreenTip, a Tip which is displayed when you hover the mouse over a Hyperlink
Use the Bookmark button to jump to predefined Named Ranges and common Cell
References dialog
Existing Web Page
Select the Existing File or Web Page icon in the Link to: area
Navigate to the existing file using the Look in: area of the dialog
Place in This Document
Select the Place in this Document icon in the Link to: area
Type in Cell Reference using the Type in Cell Reference: area of the dialog or select a
Defined Names in the Defined Names area
Create a New Document
Select the Create New Document icon in the Link to: area
Type in the Name of the New Document in the Name of the New Document: area of the
dialog.
You can choose wether to Edit the File Now or Later in the When to Edit area
Send an Email Link
Select the Email Address icon in the Link to: area
Type in the Email Address in the Email Address: area of the dialog.
Add your Email Subject in the Subject: area
Add a ScreenTip, a Tip which is displayed when you hover the mouse over a Hyperlink.
Editing Hyperlinks
Once you have a hyperlink established you can edit the hyperlink by right click on the
hyperlink and select Edit Hyperlink
The Edit Hyperlink dialog will vary depending on the type of Hyperlink as described above.
Deleting Hyperlinks
Once you have a hyperlink established you can delete the hyperlink by right click on the
hyperlink and select Remove Hyperlink
Hyperlink Uses
Hyperlink can be used for a number of uses as described above.
Tables of Contents
One common use of hyperlinks is the creation of Tables of Contents.
The construction of a Table of Contents page was discussed here Table of Contents
The construction of Tables of Contents can also be automated using some simple VBA.
So instead of reinventing the wheel I will direct you to The Microsoft Office Blog where Tables
of Conents were recently discussed.
Table of Contents 1 or Table of Contents 2
Dealing with Lots of Hyperlinks
The following 2 posts at http://chandoo.org/forums have solved users problems and will
easily be adapted to other Hyperlink issues
Find Dead Hyperlinks
http://chandoo.org/forums/topic/check-broken-external-hyperlinks
Edit Hyperlinks
http://chandoo.org/forums/topic/marco-for-editing-link-in-workbook
Excel Hyperlinks, What are they and how to use them in your workbooks. | Chando... Page 10 of 14
How have you used Hyperlinks?

How have you used Hyperlinks?
Let us all know in the comments below:
25 Responses to Beam Me Up Scotty Excel Hyperlinks
1. Rich says:
March 31, 2011 at 1:28 pm
Ive just started using the formula version =HYPERLINK(S:\Reserving\Management

Judgment comments\check for MJ comments TOS 006 &TEXT(month,mmmm yyy)
&.xls,MJ Comments) and making it dynamic as some of the files that I use have a
new name each month, or even each day.
Reply
2. Dennis says:
March 31, 2011 at 6:38 pm
I have an Excel file called Important Stuff. Rather than use post it notes, I put
information I need into this file. I create hyperlinks to the files I most reference;
especially when I have many different versions. I then add comments in the cells next
to the hyperlinks to tell me what the differences are. I rarely have to search as
everything is right there in the one file.
Reply
3. Gregory says:
April 1, 2011 at 6:11 am
Great article! Im bookmarking this for reference. Thanks for putting all you need to
know about hyperlinks in one place.
Reply
4. Kevin says:
April 1, 2011 at 11:57 am
Hyperlinks are great but Hyperlinks for navigating a spreadsheet are lost if saved as a
pdf. Even if you are utilizing Adobe Writer 8.0.0
Reply
5. Patty says:
April 1, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Great info! I never thought of using hyperlinks in Excel. Mostly used them in Word,
email and especially in Powerpoint.
Reply
6. Bobby Bluford says:

April 2, 2011 at 11:13 pm
One cool thing I do is combine the hpyerlink function with a custom function I had help
in building. I have a list of contractors from our Accounting Software (Quickbooks). We
keep scanned copies of the 1099s in one folder. We can then download the data, which
includes the vendors TaxPayer ID. The formula then checks for the file. If it exists, it
provides a link to open it. If it doesnt it says so.
Here is the custom function code:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Public Function MyFileExists(MyFilePath As String) As Boolean
Dim objFSO As Object

Set objFSO = CreateObject(Scripting.FileSystemObject)
MyFileExists = objFSO.FileExists(MyFilePath)
Set objFSO = Nothing
End Function
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Bobby
BobbyBluford.com
Reply
7. Swapnil says:
April 4, 2011 at 5:37 am
This is aewsome. I have been using hyperlink since a long time. I like this option as
this helps me create my Dashboard like a webpage. Thanks for sharing this, I got more
insight of this option.
Reply
8. Cameron says:
April 8, 2011 at 3:35 pm
Bobby: Fantastic idea! Whats amazing is as soon as I started reading scanned copies
in your post I was thinking hey that would be cool if you could just link to the files if
and only if they exist. Then you described how you do exactly that!
Nice one.
Reply
9. Jon says:
April 14, 2011 at 12:43 pm
I use hyperlinks to jump from one location in a tab to another. When I add rows, the
hyperlink destination location does not reflect the rows I just inserted. Does anyone
know a way around this?
Reply
10. Hui... says:

April 14, 2011 at 1:40 pm
@All
If you like playing pranks on you co-workers or friends here is a simple Excel Hyperlink
prank.
.
Open a workbook, probably not an overly important one, and select a page then either
Use Ctrl A twice or select all the cells by clicking in the area to the upper left of A1.
Right click any cell and insert a Hyperlink, doesnt matter what its to, Another page, a
Web Site or Send an Email
close the file
.
When anybody opens the file and clicks anywhere on the page it will execute the
Hyperlink, even on a blank cell, where the Hyperlink isnt shown
This works particularly well on Blank worksheets
.
To remove right click anywhere on the page and Remove Hyperlinks
Reply
11. JJ says:
May 5, 2011 at 1:24 am
I have been wrestling hyperlinks to PDF files for over a year now, I can insert
hyperlinks fine, and they look beautiful, but when click on them it comes up with
Cannot Open the Specified File. Does anyone know if this is because PDFs are
unsupported by Excel or can other people get hyperlinks to PDFs working OK.
My application is a register of approved capital expenditure projects and the link is to a
PDF scan of the signed approved document.
Reply
12. Hui... says:

May 5, 2011 at 1:35 am
@JJ
What version of Excel are you using ?
and
What PDF Reader are you using ?
I assume you are using the Link to an Existing File or Web Page dialog?
Because that has worked as described for years without error
Reply
13. JJ says:
May 6, 2011 at 4:17 am
I am using excel 2007

The PDF reader I am using is Adobe Reader X.
So nothing really unusual.
I am using the Insert Ribbon, then the Hyperlink Icon.
I just had anohter play with it it seems to work OK if the PDF file is on my C drive,
but as soon as the PDF file is on a network drive it comes up with the error.
Reply
14. Create Dynamic Hyperlinks in Excel [Video] | Chandoo.org - Learn Microsoft Excel
Online says:
July 14, 2011 at 8:52 am
[...] Introduction to Excel Hyperlinks [...]
Reply
15. mabs says:

July 28, 2011 at 3:47 pm
Dear Bobby i think your solution is very near to my requriment but can please explain
in layman terms . I have a set of files in a folder let say a,b,c,d,e and i have a range of
column in excel a1,b1,c1,d1,e1 .So if i click cell a1 file a should open. For range of 5
cells we can hyperlink each cell but if i have 100s of cells and files How can i apply
hyperlink to all of them at once please explain
Reply
16. Mark says:

October 13, 2011 at 3:43 pm
Im using excel 2010 & adobe reader 10 getting the same error Cannot Open the
Specified File when linking to a file on a networked drive. File opens fine if its on my
PC.
Hope this helps.
Reply
17. Fiaz says:

November 9, 2011 at 2:34 pm
Say in cell Z1, I have the URL: http://www.microsoft.com
And, I have a rectangle shape near A1 and I want it to have a hyperlink and the
URL for the hyperlink should be the URL in cell Z1.
So, when someone clicking the Rect will be taken to http://www.microsoft.com
When the URL is changed in cell Z1 to say http://www.yahoo.com
Now, when clicking the Rect should take him to the new URL.
How to achieve this? Thanks.
Reply
18. Nanette says:

May 11, 2012 at 6:45 pm
I am using Excel 2007. I have a spreadsheet with hyperlinks that were created using
formulas, such as =HYPERLINK( Link Location, Name).
The hyperlinks work fine while I am in Excel, so I know they are active. However,
when I use Acrobat 10 Pro to pdf the spreadsheet (and select the option to Add
Links) the Web links are no longer active.
I imagine its because Acrobat cannot handle the behind the scenes commands such
as a formula, and then just uses the visible text in that particular cell.
Has anyone found a work-a-round for this problem?
Reply
19. Kevin says:

May 14, 2012 at 12:52 pm
The problem is that the hyperlinks in Excel are nothing more than cell references.
However the cell disappear when saving as .pdf.
In Powerpoint, the slide references can convert to pdf and continue to work.
Reply
20. Download Project Portfolio Dashboard Excel Template & Manage multiple projects with
ease | Chandoo.org - Learn Microsoft Excel Online says:
November 19, 2012 at 8:22 am
[...] Hyperlinks: for accessing other parts of the workbook & data [...]
Reply
21. Brad says:

November 20, 2012 at 3:26 pm
I have a single page dashboard created, where I would like each of the graphs to serve
as a hyperlink to the actual data that creates the graph. The problem Im running into
is the URL for the hyperlink can be very long, depending on the data used to create
the graph. Does anyone know how to get around the 255 characters limit Excel has on
URLs? I used =Hyperlink(A1)&Hyperlink(A2) without Excel returning an error, but
when I click on the link, it doesnt do anything. Any help would be greatly
appreciated.
Reply
22. ABZ says:

March 11, 2013 at 7:01 pm
I need to use hyperlink in excel to brows a web page according to each row
of a table that its data comes from a external source such a sql connection.
but the text I have genarated from sql query =hyperlink
(Http://somthing.com,WebPage)
appearing just like above text if i edit i in sheet for example adding some space after
of before text and accepting changes then link become a real link
any kelp!
I would be appreciate
Reply
23. Ben says:

April 5, 2013 at 9:34 pm
The simplest way to add web page links is:

1. In your browser, copy the url
2. Paste the url into a cell
3. Press F2
Done!
Reply
24. mohanraj says:

May 24, 2013 at 10:37 am
Hi Gents
i dont have not much knowledge about hyper link.Could please any
one can explain how hyper link has been working.
Reply
Hui... says:
May 24, 2013 at 2:45 pm
@Mohanraj
A hyperlink is like a shortcut

By selecti8ng the hyper link it takes you somewhere else
Hyperlinks can:
Take you some place else, like another sheet or workbook or open other file,
they dont even have to be an Excel file
Hyperlinks can be placed in cells, ranges or objects in Worksheets like Charts or

Rectangles etc, all of which trigger the hyper link when you click them
The post should tell you the rest of the story on how to use them
Reply
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Excel Hyperlinks, What are they and how to use them in your workbooks. | Chandoo....

Beam Me Up Scotty Excel Hyperlinks

What are Hyperlinks ?

Opening Files (of any type)

Microsoft has added the ability to place Hyperlinks,

Directly on an Excel worksheet ,

These 4 methods above will be discussed here.

Directly on an Excel worksheet

There are 3 ways to insert a Hyperlink directly into a cell, either:

Right click on the cell and select Hyperlink; or

Use the Insert, Hyperlinks Tab; or

Use a Keyboard Shortcut - Ctrl K

Connected to a number of worksheet objects, including shapes, charts

Select the object, Use the Insert, Hyperlinks Tab; or

Select the Object and Use the Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl K

Adding Hyperlinks using Worksheet Formulas.

Hyperlinks can be added using worksheet formulas.

=HYPERLINK( Link Location, Name)

Jump to a cell on Another sheet

Jump to a Named Range on Another sheet

Open a File on a network Drive

=HYPERLINK(//Server01\01 Administration\Administration.docx,Open Admin File)

Open a File on a network Drive at a specific bookmark

=HYPERLINK([//Server01\01 Administration\Administration.docx]Contents,Open Admin

Jump to a Web Page

Adding Hyperlinks Programmatically using VBA

Hyperlinks can be added to a worksheet or a worksheet object programmatically using some

SheetName: The Name of the Sheet where the Hyperlink is to go

Range: The Range where the Hyperlink is to go

Address!Range: The address and Range linked to in the Hyperlink

Name: The Display Name of the Hyperlink

Add your Display Text in the Text to display: area

Existing Web Page

Add your Display Text in the Text to display: area

Place in This Document

Add your Display Text in the Text to display: area

Create a New Document

Add your Display Text in the Text to display: area

Send an Email Link

Select the Email Address icon in the Link to: area

Add your Display Text in the Text to display: area

Add your Email Subject in the Subject: area

One common use of hyperlinks is the creation of Tables of Contents.

Table of Contents 1 or Table of Contents 2

Dealing with Lots of Hyperlinks

Find Dead Hyperlinks

How have you used Hyperlinks?

Let us all know in the comments below:

25 Responses to Beam Me Up Scotty Excel Hyperlinks

Ive just started using the formula version =HYPERLINK(S:\Reserving\Management

6. Bobby Bluford says:

Here is the custom function code:

Dim objFSO As Object

10. Hui... says:

12. Hui... says:

I am using excel 2007

[...] Introduction to Excel Hyperlinks [...]

15. mabs says:

16. Mark says:

17. Fiaz says:

Say in cell Z1, I have the URL: http://www.microsoft.com

So, when someone clicking the Rect will be taken to http://www.microsoft.com

When the URL is changed in cell Z1 to say http://www.yahoo.com

How to achieve this? Thanks.