Avoid hyperlinks in Excel

Hyperlinks can be extremely useful in Excel, but they can also be annoying, especially if you just want to enter an email address or a URL without an automatic link being created. This guide will show you how to prevent hyperlinks from being created automatically in Excel, and how you can remove them if necessary. Let's dive right in.

Main Takeaways

• You can disable automatic hyperlinks in Excel through simple settings.
• Hyperlinks can also be manually removed or edited if they have already been created.
• A trick for entering links without automatic creation is to use quotation marks.

Step-by-step Guide

First, open a blank Excel file to test the following steps.

Creating a Hyperlink

For example, if you enter a URL, Excel will automatically create a link. Type any URL, such as "https://www.yourblog.com," and press Enter. You will immediately see that Excel has generated a hyperlink.

Removing a Hyperlink

If you want to remove a hyperlink, right-click on the link and select "Remove Link." This way you can easily delete unwanted hyperlinks.

Undoing Hyperlinks

If you have created a hyperlink and want to undo it briefly, you can use the "Undo" option or press the Ctrl + Z keys. This will delete the link, and you can enter the input again.

Disabling Automatic Hyperlink Creation

If you do not want Excel to automatically create hyperlinks, you can disable this function. Click on "AutoCorrect Options" when entering a URL or email address, and select the option "Do not create links automatically." This way, no new links will be created in this document.

Quotation Marks as a Trick

A clever trick to prevent a link from being created automatically is to put a simple quotation mark before the URL or email address. For example: "'youremail@example.com." Excel will ignore the quotation mark and not create a hyperlink. Then enter the email address, and you will not have a link.

Resetting the Settings

If you want to re-enable automatic link generation, go to "File," then "Options," click on "Proofing," and finally on "AutoCorrect Options." There you can re-check "Replace internet and network paths with links."

Editing a Hyperlink

If you want to edit an existing hyperlink, click on the link, open the context menu, and select "Edit." There you can either adjust or remove the link.

Summary

In this guide, you learned how to prevent automatic hyperlinks in Excel and how to remove or edit existing hyperlinks. There are simple ways to disable this function or smart tricks to make entering URLs or email addresses easier without creating annoying links.