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: References to Hyperlinks aren't Hyperlinks.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 8, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
If you have a hyperlink in a cell (such as cell A1) and then you use a formula in another cell that references that hyperlink, the result of that formula is not a hyperlink. For instance, suppose cell B1 contains this simple formula:
=A1
The result of that formula will not be a hyperlink, even if cell A1 contains a hyperlink. The reason is that the formula extracts the value of the referenced cell, which is the text displayed in A1. If what is displayed in cell A1 is a URL, then you could modify your formula just a bit to result in a hyperlink:
=HYPERLINK(A1)
If cell A1 does not contain a URL, or if it is a hyperlink where the displayed text is different then the underlying URL, then the HYPERLINK function won't work as expected.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3282) 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: References to Hyperlinks aren't Hyperlinks.
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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:
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