How to prevent the automatic creation of hyperlinks in Excel (291209)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office Excel 2003
  • Microsoft Excel 2002
This article was previously published under Q291209
For a Microsoft Excel 2000 version of this article, see 233073.
For a Microsoft Excel for Macintosh version of this article, see 323238.

SUMMARY

When you type an entry in your worksheet that begins with any of the following prefixes, Microsoft Excel automatically creates a hyperlink:
  • http://
  • www.
  • ftp://
  • mailto:
  • file://
  • news:
  • \\
Excel also creates a hyperlink when you type an e-mail address in the following format:

user name@company name.com

Excel does not provide a built-in method to override this behavior. However, this article contains two methods that you can use to prevent Excel from automatically creating hyperlinks.

MORE INFORMATION

To prevent Excel from automatically creating a hyperlink, use one of the following methods.

Disable the AutoFormatting option

  1. On the Tools menu, click Autocorrect Options.
  2. On the Autoformat As You Type tab, click to clear the Internet and network paths with hyperlinks check box.
  3. Click OK.

    Note You can also gain access to the Autocorrect Options feature when you type a hyperlink and then click Stop Automatically Creating Hyperlinks on the smart tag button that appears.

Type an apostrophe at the beginning of the cell entry

You can type an apostrophe (') to prevent a hyperlink from being created when you make a cell entry. For example, Excel automatically creates a hyperlink when you type the following text in a cell:

http://support.microsoft.com

However, Excel does not automatically create a hyperlink when you type the following text:

'http://support.microsoft.com

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:7/5/2006
Keywords:kbhowto kbinfo KB291209
©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.