How to Insert Hyperlinks in Microsoft Excel
This wikiHow teaches you how to create a link to a file, folder, webpage, or new document in Microsoft Excel. You can do this on both the Windows and Mac versions of Excel. Open an Excel document. Double-click the Excel document in which...
Method 1 of 4:
Linking to a New File
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Open an Excel document. Double-click the Excel document in which you want to insert a hyperlink.- You can also open a new document by double-clicking the Excel icon and then clicking Blank Workbook.
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Select a cell. This should be a cell into which you want to insert your hyperlink. -
Click Insert. This tab is in the green ribbon at the top of the Excel window. Clicking Insert opens a toolbar directly below the green ribbon.- If you're on a Mac, don't confuse the Excel Insert tab with the Insert menu item that's in your Mac's menu bar.
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Click Hyperlink. It's toward the right side of the Insert toolbar in the "Links" section. Doing so opens a window. -
Click Create New Document. This tab is on the left side of the pop-up window. -
Enter the hyperlink's text. Type the text that you want to see displayed into the "Text to display" field.- If you don't do this, your new document's name will be the hyperlink's text.
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Type in a name for the new document. Do so in the "Name of new document" field. -
Click OK. It's at the bottom of the window. By default, this will create and open a new spreadsheet document, then create a link to it in the cell that you selected in the other spreadsheet document.- You can also select the "Edit the new document later" option before clicking OK to create the spreadsheet and the link without opening the spreadsheet.
Method 2 of 4:
Linking to an Existing File or Webpage
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Open an Excel document. Double-click the Excel document in which you want to insert a hyperlink.- You can also open a new document by double-clicking the Excel icon and then clicking Blank Workbook.
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Select a cell. This should be a cell into which you want to insert your hyperlink. -
Click Insert. This tab is in the green ribbon at the top of the Excel window. Clicking Insert opens a toolbar directly below the green ribbon.- If you're on a Mac, don't confuse the Excel Insert tab with the Insert menu item that's in your Mac's menu bar.
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Click Hyperlink. It's toward the right side of the Insert toolbar in the "Links" section. Doing so opens a window. -
Click the Existing File or Web Page. It's on the left side of the window. -
Enter the hyperlink's text. Type the text that you want to see displayed into the "Text to display" field.- If you don't do this, your hyperlink's text will just be the folder path to the linked item.
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Select a destination. Click one of the following tabs:- Current Folder - Search for files in your Documents or Desktop folder.
- Browsed Pages - Search through recently viewed webpages.
- Recent Files - Search through recently opened Excel files.
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Select a file or webpage. Click the file, folder, or web address to which you want to link. A path to the folder will appear in the "Address" text box at the bottom of the window.- You can also copy a URL from the Internet into the "Address" text box.
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Click OK. It's at the bottom of the page. Doing so creates your hyperlink in your specified cell.- Note that if you ever move the item to which you linked, the hyperlink will no longer work.
Method 3 of 4:
Linking Within the Document
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Open an Excel document. Double-click the Excel document in which you want to insert a hyperlink.- You can also open a new document by double-clicking the Excel icon and then clicking Blank Workbook.
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Select a cell. This should be a cell into which you want to insert your hyperlink. -
Click Insert. This tab is in the green ribbon at the top of the Excel window. Clicking Insert opens a toolbar directly below the green ribbon.- If you're on a Mac, don't confuse the Excel Insert tab with the Insert menu item that's in your Mac's menu bar.
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Click Hyperlink. It's toward the right side of the Insert toolbar in the "Links" section. Doing so opens a window. -
Click the Place in This Document. It's on the left side of the window. -
Enter the hyperlink's text. Type the text that you want to see displayed into the "Text to display" field.- If you don't do this, your hyperlink's text will just be the linked cell's name.
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Click OK. This will create your link in the selected cell. If you click the hyperlink, Excel will automatically highlight the linked cell.
Method 4 of 4:
Creating an Email Address Hyperlink
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Open an Excel document. Double-click the Excel document in which you want to insert a hyperlink.- You can also open a new document by double-clicking the Excel icon and then clicking Blank Workbook.
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Select a cell. This should be a cell into which you want to insert your hyperlink. -
Click Insert. This tab is in the green ribbon at the top of the Excel window. Clicking Insert opens a toolbar directly below the green ribbon.- If you're on a Mac, don't confuse the Excel Insert tab with the Insert menu item that's in your Mac's menu bar.
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Click Hyperlink. It's toward the right side of the Insert toolbar in the "Links" section. Doing so opens a window. -
Click the E-mail Address. It's on the left side of the window. -
Enter the hyperlink's text. Type the text that you want to see displayed into the "Text to display" field.- If you don't change the hyperlink's text, the email address will display as itself.
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Enter the email address. Type the email address that you want to hyperlink into the "E-mail address" field.- You can also add a pre-determined subject to the "Subject" field, which will cause the hyperlinked email to open a new email message with the subject already filled in.
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Click OK. This button is at the bottom of the window.


