Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Inserting Hyperlinks.

Inserting Hyperlinks

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 27, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021

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One of the features built into Excel is support for the Internet. One aspect of this is the ability to add hyperlinks to your Excel workbooks. When you insert a hyperlink, there are two types you can use. You can insert either an absolute or a relative hyperlink. To insert a hyperlink:

  1. Select the cell in which you want the hyperlink inserted.
  2. Display the Insert tab of the ribbon.
  3. Click on the Hyperlink tool in the Links group. Excel displays the Insert Hyperlink dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

    4. Figure 1. The Insert Hyperlink dialog box.

  4. The content of the cell you selected in step 1 shows up in the Text to Display box. You can change it if you want.
  5. In the Address box specify the address for the page that will be loaded when the user clicks on your hyperlink. Typically this is a URL, but it can also be a file or resource on your system. You can also select an address from the drop-down list or use one of the Browse buttons (just to the right of the Look In drop-down list) to help locate the resource.
  6. When completed, click on OK.

Excel also provides a shortcut for getting to the Insert Hyperlink dialog box. After step 1, above, you could just press Ctrl+K to display the dialog box. You can then proceed with step 4.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (8238) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Inserting Hyperlinks.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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What is 1 + 1?

2024-01-30 09:49:44

J. Woolley

@linda
I'm using Chrome and Excel 365 with Ctrl+K to create the hyperlink; it works fine for me.
Try entering the URL as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...
or https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/.../edit?usp=drive_link

2024-01-29 11:25:39

linda

Why is it that when I create a hyperlink in Excel 2013 to a Google Sheet or Youtube video, it doesn't follow the link, but instead displays a page telling me that my browser is up to date (thank you very much, but I want to see the video)?
(see Figure 1 below)

Figure 1. 

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