Hyperlinks are quite useful to redirect to other useful resources within or outside your Word document.
However, sometimes it isn’t clickable or redirects you to the wrong location. Generally, this happens because it’s not set correctly or the link is broken.
Luckily, you may solve these issues quite easily, and it doesn’t take much of your time. Meanwhile, restart the Word or your system, as sometimes it’s just a glitch causing the issue.
To learn more in detail, let’s get right into the article to know various hyperlink issues you’re able to come across in Word and how you can fix them.
How to Fix Hyperlink Not Working in Word
From editing the hyperlink to changing various Word options, here are the various fixes to solve your hyperlink issues.
Check for Typos/Spelling Mistakes in the Link
If the hyperlink doesn’t redirect you to the desired location, ensure you have set it right. The hyperlink might havetyposor some missing characters. You can check the hyperlink as follows.
Furthermore, if you have linked to a particular section within the document, it sometimes redirects you to the wrong location.
Generally, this happens with a shared Word file where several people can edit it, and the section is placed elsewhere.
To resolve the issue, you must manually update the link to the new location. Here’s how you can do it.
Likewise, the hyperlink doesn’t work when it contains broken links. You can install an add-in to check for all the broken links in your Word document.
Also, Word doesn’t accept hyperlinks that contain a pound sign. And, if you have one, you can get an error message like “Cannot Open the Specified File.” Therefore, use a hyperlink without a pound sign.
On the other hand, if you want Word to convert a web address to hyperlink writing or copying automatically, you can do so as follows.
After writing or pasting a link, press space or enter to let Word automatically convert it into a hyperlink.
Disable the Ctrl + Click Option
If you have a link that’s not redirecting when clicking ordouble-clicking, press and hold theCtrlkey while clicking. Check if Word redirects you to another location.
However, if you don’t want to hold the Ctrl key, you need to disable theCtrl+Clickoption in the Word settings. This way, you can directly jump to the link location.
Here’s how you can do it.
Disable the Field Code
Sometimes you may get the link’s full address instead of the hyperlink text. For instance, instead of google, you may see{HYPERLINK “https://google.com/”}.
This happens because of an option: “Show field codes instead of their values.” You can disable it to avoid the above issue as follows.
On Windows
On Mac
Alternatively, you can toggle the field type by using the following shortcut keys:
On the other hand, if you have an Fn key on your keyboard, use the shortcut keyAlt+Fn+F9for Windows andOption+Fn+F9for Mac.
Also, if you see a hyperlink that isn’t clickable, it could just be a text that has a Hyperlink character style. So, you can use the field codes to determine whether the text is a hyperlink.
Stop Links from Changing Automatically
Even though you have set a valid hyperlink, Word can change them automatically after saving them. To prevent it, you can change the Word settings as follows.
Repair the Word App
While some settings in Word can be behind hyperlink not working, sometimes the Word itself can experience issues. So, you can repair word to resolve your hyperlink issue as follows.
Update the Word App
If you areusing an outdated Word app, it could cause hyperlinks not to work properly. Therefore, update the app to resolve such issues.
