Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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: Using Drag-and-Drop to Create a Hyperlink.

Using Drag-and-Drop to Create a Hyperlink

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated July 12, 2014)

5

Excel includes a very powerful feature which allows you to use drag-and-drop editing techniques to create a hyperlink. In order to take advantage of this feature, follow these steps:

  1. Make sure you have two workbooks open: the one in which you want the hyperlink to appear and the one that is the target of the hyperlink. Both should be visible on the screen at the same time.
  2. Select the target area. For instance, select the cell or range of cells in the target workbook that you want to use as the target of the hyperlink.
  3. Move the mouse pointer so it is over the thick box surrounding the cell or range of cells. The mouse pointer should change to an arrow.
  4. Right-click and hold down the mouse button as you drag the selection to the cell in which the hyperlink will appear in the other workbook.
  5. When you release the mouse button, Excel displays a Context menu.
  6. Select the Create Hyperlink Here option from the Context menu. Excel immediately creates a hyperlink in the cell.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (10402) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Using Drag-and-Drop to Create 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 two more than 9?

2017-04-21 04:16:51

MalR

Don't know if anyone knows the answer but I regularly use this method to link a cell in a worksheet to another cell in a separate worksheet. For many months it has been working perfectly but in the past month it has been failing to link to the target cell more and more. Sometimes it is OK mostly it fails.
When it fails, the cursor moves to the same cell reference (let's say ABC12) in the target worksheet as it tries to create a hyperlink there whereas it should be going to the source cell (ABC12) in the other worksheet. This is frustrating because it takes time to get the cursor back into the right place in the worksheet.
I have tried saving the file before I attempt doing the hyperlink and clicking on the source cell as Allen advises but nothing helps.
Anyone have any ideas why it works sometimes and then sometimes will not?
I am on Win10 x64, MS Office 2010 but have changed nothing.
MalR

2014-08-24 22:23:21

MF

Don't try it on a new workbook. Save you workbook before you try it. It works only on a saved workbook.
p.s. it works on the same sheet too.

2014-07-12 10:50:30

Chris

Ditto, didn't work for me either.
"Create link here" works fine, giving usual excel cell references.
But "Create hyperlink here" didn't work - nothing placed in the target cells, and cursor moves to of left of screen.

STOP PRESS - Checked the MS help pages...
** The method only works if both sheets have previously been saved.**

Did this, and it now works! Suggest ttat the tip is updated.

2014-07-12 08:31:41

Brian Hershman

I am running Excel 2010 under Windows 7. I cannot get this tip to work at all.

(1) After selecting the "target area" in step 2, step 3 does not make any sense - there is no thick box surrounding the selected cell(s) and the mouse pointer does not change when it is over the selection.
(2) As soon as I right-click there, the context menu appears and I cannot drag the selection anywhere

I have tried it with the two workbooks open in (a) separate instances of Excel and (b) the same instance. It does not work in either case.

I CAN achieve the object by creating a formula or array-formula that references the target area, but not by drag-and-drop!

2014-07-12 06:16:24

gopal

good

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