Hyperlinks in Shared Workbooks

Dan has a shared workbook into which he needs to insert a hyperlink. However, as long as the workbook is shared, the hyperlink features in Excel are not available. Dan wonders if there is a way to insert hyperlinks into shared workbooks.

The short answer is no, there is not. When you choose to share a workbook, some options in Excel are simply not available any more; inserting hyperlinks is one of those options that is removed once the workbook is shared.

If you absolutely must add the hyperlink to the workbook, the only option is to unshare the workbook, add the hyperlink, and then again share the workbook. You'll no longer be able to add any more hyperlinks, but the one you added while the workbook was unshared will work just fine.

There is one caveat in taking this approach to adding the hyperlink—you need to be careful that you don't unshare the workbook if you have the Track Changes feature of Excel turned on. In the process of unsharing the workbook, Excel will turn off the tracking and discard the change history. If this is important to you, the only option is to make sure that you add the hyperlinks before sharing the workbook and first turning on Track Changes.