Creating hyper links in MS Word.

We're all familiar with hyper links on Web pages, we usually simply refer to them as links. This tutorial covers the steps to:

Create hyper links to another place in the same document.
Creating hyper links to other files and documents.
Creating hyper links to Web pages.
Click here if you're looking for the tutorial on how to insert hyper links with Outlook email.

Definition -
A hyperlink includes the path information to another object. The object can be a target in the same document, a file on the same computer, or a uniform resource locator(URL), giving the location of a web page halfway around the world. The process is exactly the same in all cases. A point on the document is turned into an active spot which includes the path information to the desired location.
Note: Hyper links can be created in all MS office programs including Excel, Outlook and Word.
This tutorial covers the steps used in MS Word 2000 and 2003.

To create a hyper link pointing to another place within the same document.

    Before we can create the hyper link we need to first create a bookmark. This bookmark will be the location in the document to which the hyper link will point.
  1. Highlight the part of the document that will act as the bookmark. For example, if we want the hyper link to point to where chapter 5 begins in a document, Move to the page place in the document where chapter 5 begins and highlight Chapter 5 .
  2. Access the Insert menu from the menu bar or by using the Alt I. keystroke. Arrow up or down to the menu item titled "bookmark", and press Enter .
  3. A dialog box appears where we are prompted to enter a name for the bookmark. Following our example, we could name the bookmark "chap5". This name isn't actually displayed anywhere on the page.
  4. Press TAB to move to the "hidden bookmarks" checkbox. Normally we will want the bookmark to be hidden, so if it is unchecked, press Spacebar to check it.
  5. TAB to the "add" button and then press Enter.
  6. Now move back up to the place in the document where you want the hyper link. If in our example, there is a table of contents, we would move to the line in the table of contents and highlight the text which will appear as the hyper link. In our example, we would highlight the table of contents line that reads, "Chapter 5".
  7. Access the Insert menu, from the menu bar, or ssimply by using the Alt I. keystroek. Arrow up or down to the menu item titled "hyper link", and press Enter.
  8. A series of page tabs will appear. Press Shift + TAB moving back through the page tabs until the "Bookmarks" button, then press Spacebar.
    Note: From the keyboard it is important to use Shift TAB instead of the usual TAB key to move along these page tabs.
  9. Once you have pressed Spacebar on the bookmarks button, a treeview will appear prompting you to "select place in document". Arrow down to "bookmarks" and then press Right arrow.
  10. You will now be in a list of the bookmarks found within this document. Arrow up or down to the desired bookmark, and then press Enter.
  11. Finally, press TAB until you move to the OK button, and then press Spacebar.

Now the hyper link will be creatted and whoever is reading your MS Word document can either click or press Enter on the hyper link to move directly to the place in the document with the corresponding hidden bookmark.

Creating a hyper link to another document.

We can create hyper links to other files and documents located on our hard drive or a shared drive. These hyper links can point to a wide variety of files including Word documents, Excel and Powerpoint files, and even audio or video files. The reader of the document must have access to the file/location to which the hyper link is pointing.

  1. Select the text or graphic you want to use as the hyper link.
  2. Access the Insert menu from the Menu bar or simply use the Alt I. keystroeke. Then Arrow up or down to "hyper link", and then press Enter.
    The "browse for files" dialogue box will appear.
  3. Press TAB until the "look in" combo box. This combo box lists the various drives of your computer, and commonly used folders such as "desktop" and "my documents". Arrow down to the parent directory of the desired file.
  4. Press TAB until the "list view" combo box. If the desired file is located within this list, arrow down to it and press Enter.
    If the parent folder, of the desired file is listed, arrow down to it, then press Enter and repeat until this list repopulates with the desired file name.
  5. Once you have pressed Enter on the desired file name, the "browse files" dialogue box closes, the hyper link is created, and focus is returned to the document.

Creating a hyper link to a Web page.

If you want to create an absolute hyper link within your MS Word documents, simply type the full Web page address (URL. For example, http://www.StacyBleeks.com/accessibility.html

If you want to create a relative hyper link within an MS Word document, follow these steps:
  1. Select the text within the Word document which will become the hyper link.
  2. Access the Insert menu, from the menu bar, or simply by using the Alt I. keystroke. Arrow up or down to the menu item titled "hyper link", and press Enter.
  3. Now enter the exact Web address (URL) for which you want the hyper link to point.
    Note: You can open the desired Web page and then copy the URL from it's address bar to be certain you are using the exact Web page address.
  4. Press Shift + TAB until the OK button and then press Enter.
Now the hyper link will be set and if activated, will direct the reader to the Web page you have embedded within the document.
Contact the author of this tutorial if you are still having trouble or need more information