Insert a hyperlink
Select your text
Highlight the word or phrase you want to become clickable.
Press Ctrl+K (or Insert > Link)
Word opens the Insert Hyperlink dialog.
Paste the address and select Insert
Word converts your selected text into a working hyperlink, styled blue and underlined by default.
Prefer to build the link somewhere other than a Word document too? The HTML link generator produces the matching code for a webpage using the same URL.
Link to a place in the same document
To jump to a heading or a specific spot further down the same document instead of a web address, first insert a bookmark at the target location (Insert > Bookmark, give it a name), then create your link as usual and choose Place in This Document instead of a web address.
Link an email address
In the Insert Hyperlink dialog, choose Email Address, type the destination address, and optionally add a subject line — Word builds a mailto: link that opens the reader's email client with that address (and subject) pre-filled.
Fixing the Ctrl+Click requirement
By default, Word requires you to hold Ctrl while clicking a link to actually follow it — this is intentional, so a stray click while editing doesn't send you somewhere else. To make links open with a single click instead, go to File > Options > Advanced, scroll to Editing options, and uncheck "Use CTRL + Click to follow hyperlink."
Removing a hyperlink
This is what most people mean when they search for "how to make a hyperlink not a hyperlink" — you want the text to stay, just without the link behind it.
- Keep the text, drop the link: right-click the hyperlink and choose Remove Hyperlink.
- Also strip the blue/underlined styling: select the text and press Ctrl+Shift+F9 instead — this removes the link field entirely, leaving plain formatted text.
Reference: Microsoft Support — Create or edit a hyperlink.
Building the same link elsewhere too?
Generate the matching HTML, Markdown, or BBCode version — free, private, copy and paste ready.