Putting More than One Hyperlink in a Cell

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated January 11, 2014)

6

Kenton asked if there is a way to have more than one hyperlink in a cell. For instance, if you enter keywords on different lines in a cell (by pressing Alt+Enter between each keyword), is it possible to assign a hyperlink to each keyword, independent of the other keywords in the cell.

The short answer is that this cannot be done. Excel only allows you to enter hyperlinks on a cell-by-cell basis. Even if you add the hyperlinks to adjacent cells, and then merge the cells into one, only the first hyperlink is maintained by Excel.

The workaround is to not just rely on native Excel. Instead, you could use the OLE features of Excel to insert objects from programs that do support multiple hyperlinks. For instance, you could follow these general steps:

  1. Create a list of keywords in a Word document.
  2. Within Word, specify the hyperlinks for each keyword.
  3. Select the list of keywords and press Ctrl+C to copy it to the Clipboard.
  4. In Excel, chose Paste Special from the Edit menu. Excel displays the Paste Special dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

    5. Figure 1. The Paste Special dialog box.

  5. Choose Microsoft Word Document Object in the list of pasting formats.
  6. Click on OK.

The Microsoft Word object is now in your document. You can double click on the object at any time, which "activates" it within Word, and then you can click on the hyperlink.

You can also, if desired, add controls from the Forms toolbar to your worksheet, and then assign hyperlinks to the controls. If you position the controls just right, they can appear to be within a single cell.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2805) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

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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Comments

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What is seven more than 3?

2016-05-03 23:17:42

Lex

In either a vertical or horizontal form, depending a little on the number of respective columns or rows in use within the worksheet, you can insert additional rows/cols next to the that carrying the index then merge these for all cols/rows except that to be used for the index.

This gives you then a group of cells in either one column or row into which separate hyperlinks can be entered and also formatted differently if required.

2016-02-24 05:50:42

Avi Mak

Both OLD Word objects and Excel text boxes seem to be quite alien to cells. They have some position association, but not exact position association.

So if you do a sort on rows, or chabnge the width of rows, both type of objects tend to "go walkies" WRT to their previous row-relative positions.

This would be a real fudge, and I can't see my manager or colleagues approving this.

2015-10-30 12:33:54

Kenn

HI,

I wonder for the above scenario could you define a list (On say a 'Legend Sheet' ) and by inserting the hyperlinks into these keywords, and then by using data validation or some conditional formatting - could these links subsequently be selected from a dropdown menu elsewhere in the worksheet??

Please advise

Thanks

2015-09-28 10:54:56

Ian

Say you want to hyperlink Document A and Document B in the same cell.

In normal text type 'Document A' and 'Document B'. Ideally highlight the text in blue font so that it looks like a hyperlink.

Then you insert two separate text boxes, one placed over 'Document A' and one over 'Document B'. Make sure the text boxes cover exactly the height and width of the text.

Then right click on the text boxes, click on format shape and select the no-fill and no-line options.
Then right click on the text boxes again, and select the hyperlink option, and insert the link.

2015-03-31 20:28:48

JM

You can also post small image icons and add hyperlinks to those.

2014-10-29 21:50:42

Gerous

Thanks! Very useful tips

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