Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. 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: Turning Off Hyperlink Activation.
When you enter a Web address or a LAN server address of a file into an Excel cell, it automatically converts to a hyperlink when you leave the cell. This is part of the "Web-aware behavior" of Excel.
If you want to turn off the automatic conversion, you can follow these steps:
Figure 1. The AutoFormat As You Type tab of the AutoCorrect dialog box.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (6245) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Turning Off Hyperlink Activation.
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2016-10-08 10:41:35
My needs vary and I'm wondering if deactivating hyperlinks can be applied on a case-by-case basis. I think this tip turns that feature off for all worksheets.
I have worksheets where I need hyperlinking to be active and others where I do not want it.
2016-10-08 10:35:01
Jerry
Great tip, Rod! Ctrl-z seems to work to undo all the AutoCorrect changes that the applications make. Especially handy when sometimes you want it to auto-correct and other times you don't.
2016-10-08 06:56:18
Rod Grealish
You can undo hyperlink activation on a particular cell by keying ctrl-z (undo) immediately after moving to the following cell. This works because hyperlink activation consists of two steps - entering the hyperlink text followed by conversion to a hyperlink. Ctrl-z undoes the second step.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. 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: 
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