Hyperlinks are a common feature of Microsoft Excel. When you click on a hyperlink, Excel opens a new window or tab with the information that is associated with that hyperlink. This can be useful if you want to explore a particular data set or if you want to access information that is hidden behind other data sets. However, sometimes hyperlinks can be problematic. For example, if you have a table of contents in your Excel spreadsheet, and then you click on the first hyperlink in the table of contents, Excel opens the table of contents in a new window or tab. However, if you click on the second hyperlink in the table of contents, Excel opens the second tab instead. This can be confusing because it seems like Excel is trying to do two different things - one for each hyperlink in the table of contents. To fix this problem, you can use one of two methods:
- Choose an option in your Microsoft Excel Options dialog box (usually located under “File” > “Options”) and then select “Link Hyperlinks Only When Data Is Loaded.” This setting will keep Excel from opening both tabs when you click on hyperlinks.
- Use one of Microsoft’s built-in macros to remove all links from your spreadsheet automatically. For more information about macros, see “Macros and Spreadsheets” later in this article. If either method fails to fix your problem, then you may need to contact Microsoft support for assistance.
Want to remove those clickable links from your Microsoft Excel spreadsheets? If so, it’s easy to remove those links or prevent Excel entirely from turning your typed text into web links. We’ll show you how to do both.
RELATED: How to Remove Underlined Hyperlinks in PowerPoint
How to Remove a Single Hyperlink in Excel
To quickly remove an individual hyperlink from your Excel spreadsheet, use an option from your right-click menu.
To do that, first, open your spreadsheet with Excel. Find the cell that has the link you want to remove.
Right-click that cell, and from the menu that opens, select “Remove Hyperlink.”
And your selected hyperlink is now removed.
That’s it. You can remove hyperlinks from Word documents in a similar way.
RELATED: How to Remove Hyperlinks From Microsoft Word Documents
How to Remove Multiple Hyperlinks in Excel
If you want to remove multiple hyperlinks from your Excel spreadsheet at once, you can again use the Excel context menu option.
To do so, first, open your spreadsheet with Excel.
In the spreadsheet, select the links you want to remove. You can select as many links as you want.
To remove links from your entire worksheet, press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Command+A (Mac) to select your entire worksheet.
While your hyperlinks are selected, right-click anywhere on your worksheet and choose “Remove Hyperlinks” from the menu.
And Excel will remove all your selected hyperlinks!
You’re all set. If you enter a lot of dates in Excel, you might like to know how to convert text to date values.
How to Stop Excel From Turning Your Links Into Hyperlinks
By default, when you type a web address in your spreadsheet, Excel automatically converts it to a hyperlink. To prevent this, you can toggle off an option in Excel settings.
To do so, in Excel’s top-left corner, click “File.”
From the left sidebar, select More > Options.
An “Excel Options” window will open. In this window, from the left sidebar, select “Proofing.” Then, on the right, click “AutoCorrect Options.”
You will see an “AutoCorrect” window. At the top of this window, click “AutoFormat As You Type.”
On the “AutoFormat As You Type” tab, in the “Replace As You Type” section, turn off the “Internet and Network Paths With Hyperlinks” option. Then click “OK.”
Close the “Excel Options” window by clicking “OK” at the bottom.
From now on, Excel won’t automatically convert your text into hyperlinks. Very useful in many cases!
Similarly, you can disable automatic hyperlinks in Microsoft Word, too.
RELATED: How to Disable Automatic Hyperlinks in Microsoft Word
