Hyperlink Coolness!

Navigating via Hyperlinks is a way of life for us on the Internet. What many users do not know (or at least do not take advantage of) is that you can use this feature within an Excel workbook to add both Functionality and Coolness!

By using Hyperlinks in a worksheet, the user can instantly access another area in the workbook, another relevant workbook or application, or a place on the web. You can insert a hyperlink into a cell or a Shape in any version of Excel.

Inserting a Hyperlink into your workbook is, as are most things in Excel when you know how, Super Easy. In any Excel version of the past 10 years, simply choose the cell that you want to put the link into, and Right-Click / Hyperlink. Then click on the appropriate Link-to area in the left-hand column, and complete the address information. Bamm! You have your Link!

If you want to make your worksheet Even Cooler, however, you can quite easily draw a shape like a Button for your link. Here is what you do:

1) First get rid of all of your extraneous gridlines by going to the View ribbon and Uncheck Gridlines.

2) Go to the Insert ribbon, click on Shapes, choose whatever shape makes you happy (and makes your spreadsheet distinctive), draw it onto your worksheet and format it to your specifications.

3) Then Right-Click / Hyperlink, (It bears repeating that “Right-Click is Our Friend”, as it gives you Context Sensitive dropdown choices), and finish the link in the same way we discussed earlier this week.

By using Hyperlinks, you can aid the ease of navigation in your Excel workbook by mimicking website design and, perhaps as importantly, you can look like the Excel Rock Star you really are!