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: Specifying a Browser in a Hyperlink.

Specifying a Browser in a Hyperlink

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 9, 2026)

4

Laura wants to include a hyperlink in a worksheet. However, she would like the hyperlink to "force" the target of the URL to be displayed in a particular browser. For instance, she would like the hyperlink to somehow specify that the target be opened in Internet Explorer.

There is no way to do this within Excel; a hyperlink in a worksheet, when clicked, relies on whatever the default browser is on the system being used. There is a workaround that you can try, however: You could create a macro that actually opens a target address using a specific browser.

For example, consider the following macro. It automatically opens an instance of Internet Explorer and opens a website in that browser:

Sub LaunchIE()
    Dim IE As Object
    Set IE = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
    IE.navigate "http://excel.tips.net/"
    IE.Visible = True
    Set IE = Nothing
End Sub

The macro could easily be assigned to a shortcut key. It isn't terribly flexible, however, when it comes to which browser is being used (it is always Internet Explorer) and which site is displayed (it is always the ExcelTips site). You can make it a bit more flexible in this manner:

Sub showURL(browser As String, URL As String)
    Dim pPath As String
    Dim bPath As String

    'Use this to resolve the correct program file path
    'it is different on 32-bit and 64-bit systems
    pPath = Environ("ProgramFiles")

    If browser = "Firefox" Then
        bPath = pPath & "\Mozilla Firefox\Firefox.exe"
    ElseIf browser = "IE" Then
        bPath = pPath & "\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"
    Else
        Exit Sub
    End If

    Call Shell(bPath & " " & URL, vbNormalFocus)
End Sub

Sub Testing()
    Call showURL("Firefox", "http://www.tips.net")
    Call showURL("IE", "http://excel.tips.net")
End Sub

Note that the main routine—showURL, the one that does all the work—can work with either Internet Explorer or Firefox. The Testing routine shows how to launch the browsers; all you need to do is specify which browser you want and what URL you want to open in that browser.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9836) 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: Specifying a Browser in 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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What is 9 + 3?

2026-09-09 04:54:13

Kiwerry

@ J. Nygren:
Thanks very much for that hint, it works in my Windows 10/Office 365 environment. My experience:
I created a file called TipsNet.lnk on my machine with the property
"c:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" "http://excel.tips.net"
and tested it by double cliking, OK.

A link created using the older Insert > Link method to link from the worksheet to TipsNet.lnk worked as expected, except that I had to click through two warning messages about potentially unsafe actions.

The following formula had the same result.
=HYPERLINK("c:\(my path)\TipsNet.lnk", "TipsNet")

I tried bypassing the necessity of creating a LNK file like TipsNet.lnk file by using the HYPERLINK function as follows, but it threw an error: "Cannot open the specified file". I presume that this is a security feature.

=HYPERLINK("c:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" & " " & "https://excelribbon.tips.net", "TipsNetDirect")

2017-03-03 13:53:43

Ross VK

Much like Ken I have an excel sheet of AXIS ip cameras that only work in IE, but Chrome is our default browser. So for each of the 180 cameras listed I have to click on it in Excel, it opens in Chrome, says I need to download quick-time to get site to function, I need to close that window, copy the link from Chrome, paste it into ie and go from there. When we need to view a camera quickly or do an audit of numerous cameras it is not a quick or easy task!

2015-10-23 09:59:12

J. Nygren

You can create a folder somewhere on your system, and then save shortcuts there that display a URL in a particular browser. (For example, in Windows, set the shortcut's Target to something like "C:Program FilesInternet Exploreriexplore.exe" "http://excel.tips.net".) Then put a hyperlink in your worksheet that points to the shortcut.

2015-07-17 10:56:41

Ken

I know this topic is a few months old, but I'm wondering if anything has changed. I have a spreadsheet in MS Excel (2010 version 14.0.7145.5000) that includes a column of hyperlinks (almost 300 rows). Every one of the links, when clicked, opens in my default browser (Chrome), except one, which opens Internet Explorer. I have looked at properties of the hyperlink, and of the cell, and cannot find why it does this - but I want to know because there are certain sites that I have linked that only function properly in IE, and I'd like to set them up to open IE also. Any clues what might be going on here?

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