How to use the Excel HYPERLINK function

Summary

The Excel HYPERLINK function returns a hyperlink from a given destination and link text. You can use HYPERLINK to create a clickable hyperlink with a formula. The HYPERLINK function can build links to workbook locations, pages on the internet, or to files on network servers.

Purpose

Create a clickable link.

Return value

A clickable hyperlink

Syntax

=HYPERLINK (link_location, [friendly_name])

Arguments

link_location - The path to the file or page to be opened.
friendly_name - [optional] The link text to display in a cell.

Version

Excel 2003

Usage notes

The HYPERLINK function creates a hyperlink from a given destination and "friendly name", which is simply the link text. You can use HYPERLINK to construct a clickable hyperlink with a formula. The HYPERLINK function can build links to other cells in a workbook, other sheets, named ranges, other workbooks, pages on the internet, or to files on network servers. You can also use HYPERLINK to create email links.

The HYPERLINK function takes two arguments: link_location and friendly_name. Link_location is the destination or path the link should follow, entered as text. Friendly_name is the text that will be displayed with the link.

When a user clicks a cell that contains the HYPERLINK function, Excel will open the file or page specified by link_location. Link_location can be a cell reference or named range, a path to a file stored on a local drive, a path a file on a server using Universal Naming Convention (UNC), or an internet path in Uniform Resource Locator (URL) format.

Example #1 - link to cell

To link to another cell in the same worksheet, prefix the cell with "#":

=HYPERLINK("#Z100","link to Z100") // cell in same sheet

Example #2 - link to sheet

To link to another sheet in the same workbook, use "#" with the Sheet name like this

=HYPERLINK("#Sheet2!A1","Sheet2") // sheet2 in same workbook

Example #3 - external link

To link to https://exceljet.net/ with the text "exceljet":

=HYPERLINK("https://exceljet.net/","exceljet")

Example #4 - email link

To link to a valid email address in A1, you can concatenate "mailto:" like this:

=HYPERLINK("mailto:"&A1,"email") // link to email address in A1

With two email addresses in A1 and A2, you can create a link like this:

=HYPERLINK("mailto:"&A1&","&B1,"email") // two emails

This formula example explains how to construct a more complete mailto email link with cc, subject, body, etc.

Notes

Link_location should be supplied as a text string in quotation marks or a cell reference that contains the link path as text.
If friendly_name is not supplied, the HYPERLINK will display link_location as the friendly_name.
To select a cell that contains HYPERLINK without following the link, use arrow keys or right-click the cell.