Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 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: Pasting a Hyperlink.

Pasting a Hyperlink

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 17, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


13

A common editing task is copying information from one source and pasting it in your workbook. By using a minor variation on pasting, you can actually cause your pasted information to appear as a hyperlink in an Excel worksheet. To paste information in this manner, follow these steps:

  1. Select the information to be copied and press Ctrl+C. This copies the information to the Clipboard.
  2. Switch to Excel and select the cell where you want the link to appear.
  3. Click the down-arrow under the Paste option on the Home tab of the ribbon and then click Paste Special. Excel displays the Paste Special dialog box.
  4. Choose Hyperlink from the list of options. (See Figure 1.)
  5. Figure 1. The Paste Special dialog box with the Hyperlink option highlighted.

  6. Click OK

The information appears as a hyperlink, and if you click on it, you are taken directly to the spot in the original document from which it was copied.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9668) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Pasting a Hyperlink.

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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Comments

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What is two minus 0?

2023-05-19 01:04:19

Brijesh meghpara

In the Microsoft Excel this paste option is not show....

Then how to paste hyperlinks????


2021-09-24 09:28:44

Allen

John,

The "paste as" options depend on the capabilities of the program from which you are pasting information. You don't see the Hyperlink option when pasting from Notepad because Notepad doesn't make that option available to Excel.

-Allen


2021-09-24 08:55:31

John Wilson

I don't see the option for "hyperlink" as an option. My URLS are in notepad, I followed the instructions above. (see Figure 1 below)

Figure 1. 


2021-07-18 21:30:57

Peter

The problem I have is "pasting a hyperlink" not "pasting as a hyperlink". It seems that Excel cannot copy an existing hyperlink and paste it into a different cell. That requires a macro.


2021-01-14 16:45:12

Elmer Sun

After click the "Past Special", only show "Unicode Text" and "Text" in the dialog box. How can I fix the problem?

Thank you.


2020-09-23 01:23:23

Matt

In Office 365, if you click on the cell and press Ctrl+K you can then paste your hyperlink, followed by Enter.
This works for single cell copy and paste anyway.


2020-04-24 08:07:30

Peter Atherton@hotmail.com

Glen & Tushar
It is not availabe in 2016 but if you double-click the URL it goes to the site after openeng the browser if necessary. I assume that it is the same with 365.


2020-04-23 07:33:14

Tushar

Hello,

I cannot find this in the paste special dialog box in MS Excel Office 365 version. Can you please help?


2020-02-10 13:58:29

Glenn

Your note above the tip says "This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013." Do you have a version for newer versions such as 2016 and 365? I have 365 and do not see a Past as Hyperlink option. There is a "Refreshable Web Query" option, but that generates script errors.


2020-02-07 12:08:47

Robert Johnson

What do you do when "Paste Special" is grayed out?


2019-03-19 06:21:55

Thomas Papavasileiou

starting with a web page and copying the address with Excel 2016 and Windows 10, the simple paste command pastes the copied text as hyperlink
The paste as text option pastes the text only, eliminating the hyperlink


2016-12-13 03:46:21

Chiraag

How do I paste the text and not as a hyperlink


2016-03-03 11:37:16

Brian Phillips

this article is wrong about pasting hyperlinks in Excel - I do not see the option to "paste as hyperlink" with a hyperlink on the clipboard. Windows 10 Office 16.0.6366


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