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: Deleting a Hyperlink.

Deleting a Hyperlink

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 16, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Part of Excel's compatibility with the Web is to allow you to define hyperlinks in your workbooks. There may come a time when you no longer need a particular hyperlink. Fortunately, deleting a hyperlink in Excel is very easy to do. All you need to do is follow these steps if you are using Excel 2003:

  1. Right-click on the hyperlink. Excel displays a Context menu.
  2. Choose Remove Hyperlink. Excel dutifully removes the hyperlink.

If you are using an older version of Excel the you'll need an extra step:

  1. Right-click on the hyperlink. Excel displays a Context menu.
  2. Choose the Hyperlink option from the Context menu. Excel displays a submenu.
  3. Choose Remove Hyperlink from the submenu.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that you can get rid of a hyperlink simply by clearing a cell (moving to the cell and pressing Del). You can do this in Excel 2003, but you cannot in the older versions. If you do this, the hyperlink text is gone, but the hyperlink itself is still lurking in the background. If you type some information in the cell again, you will notice it is underlined, indicating it is still a hyperlink. The reason for this is because Excel considers the hyperlink to be a format of the cell. Pressing Del only clears the contents of the cell, not its format. You can use other editing techniques to get rid of a hyperlink, however, provided those techniques result in getting rid of formatting or overwriting the formatting.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2336) 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: Deleting 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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