Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Editing a Hyperlink.

Editing a Hyperlink

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 2, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Once a hyperlink is placed in your worksheet, it is not unusual to periodically need to change the link in some way. This is quite easy to do, using any of the following methods:

  • Select the cell that contains the hyperlink and then click the Insert Hyperlink tool on the toolbar.
  • Select the cell that contains the hyperlink, and then click Insert Hyperlink from the Insert menu.
  • Right-click on the hyperlink, choose Hyperlink from the Context menu, and then choose Edit Hyperlink.

To select a cell in which a hyperlink is located, simply click on an adjacent cell (one without a hyperlink) and use the arrow keys to select the cell. If you try to click on the cell directly, you will instead activate the hyperlink.

At the conclusion of any of these steps, the Edit Hyperlink dialog box is visible. The difference between this instance and actually adding a hyperlink is that all the information in the dialog box is already filled in. You can make edits to your heart's content, and then click on OK to save your changes.

While pulling up the Edit Hyperlink dialog box provides the most flexibility (you can change everything about the link in one place), it can be a pain to do. If all you want to do is change the text used for the hyperlink, Excel makes the process very easy. Simply change the contents of the cell, and the hyperlink text is automatically changed. Thus, you can select the cell containing the hyperlink and begin typing. What you type becomes the text for the hyperlink.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2139) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Editing a Hyperlink.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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