How to Insert a Hyperlink in a Microsoft Word Document

When creating a digital document, you often need to reference outside sources, link to a specific website, or provide a quick way for readers to email you. Instead of pasting a long, ugly URL directly into your text, you can create a clean, clickable hyperlink.

Microsoft Word makes it incredibly easy to attach web addresses, email addresses, or even links to other sections of your document directly to any word or phrase.

In this guide, you will learn how to easily insert and manage hyperlinks in Microsoft Word.

How to Link Text to a Website

1. Open your Microsoft Word document and locate the text you want to turn into a link.
2. Highlight the specific word or phrase using your mouse (e.g., “Click here to visit our website”).
3. Right-click on the highlighted text.
4. In the context menu that appears, click on Link (or Hyperlink in older versions of Word). Alternatively, you can press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + K (or Cmd + K on a Mac).
5. A new “Insert Hyperlink” window will open. Ensure that Existing File or Web Page is selected on the left sidebar.
6. At the bottom of the window, locate the text box labeled Address:.
7. Type or paste the full URL of the website you want to link to (e.g., https://www.example.com).
8. Click OK.

Your highlighted text will now appear blue and underlined, indicating it is an active hyperlink.

How to Link Text to an Email Address

If you want the reader to click a link and immediately open a blank email addressed to you, you can create an email hyperlink.

1. Highlight the text you want to link (e.g., “Contact Support”).
2. Press Ctrl + K (or right-click and select Link).
3. In the Insert Hyperlink window, look at the left sidebar and select E-mail Address.
4. In the E-mail address: box, type the destination email. Word will automatically add mailto: to the beginning of the address, which is normal and required.
5. (Optional) You can also type a default subject line in the Subject: box so that the resulting email is automatically populated with a topic.
6. Click OK.

How to Remove or Edit a Hyperlink

If you made a mistake or the link is no longer valid, you can easily change or remove it without deleting the underlying text.

1. Right-click anywhere on the blue, underlined hyperlink text.
2. To change the destination URL, click Edit Link. This will reopen the Insert Hyperlink window.
3. To completely remove the link and turn the text back into normal, unclickable words, click Remove Hyperlink.