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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Determining if Caps Lock is On

If your macro needs to determine the status of the Caps Lock key, you need the code in this tip. Just use the Information ...

Discover More

Adding Tabs at the Beginning of a Line

Press a tab at the beginning of a paragraph, and Word normally assumes you want to indent the paragraph. If you don't ...

Discover More

Deriving the Worksheet Name

Excel doesn't provide an easy way to grab the worksheet name for use within a worksheet. Here are some ideas on ways you ...

Discover More

Program Successfully in Excel! This guide will provide you with all the information you need to automate any task in Excel and save time and effort. Learn how to extend Excel's functionality with VBA to create solutions not possible with the standard features. Includes latest information for Excel 2024 and Microsoft 365. Check out Mastering Excel VBA Programming today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Adding a ScreenTip

If you want people to know something about a hyperlink you added to your worksheet, one way to help them is to use ...

Discover More

Getting Rid of All Hyperlinks

Need to get rid of all the hyperlinks in a worksheet? It's easy when you use this single-line macro.

Discover More

Setting Web Fonts

Is your worksheet information destined for a Web page? Here's how you can specify the fonts that should be used when ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 + 8?

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


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.