To turn off automatic hyperlinks in Excel, select File > Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options, open the AutoFormat As You Type tab, and clear the Internet and network paths with hyperlinks check box. After that, web addresses, email addresses, and network paths you type stay as plain text instead of turning into clickable links.
The steps below follow Microsoft’s Remove or turn off hyperlinks and Undo automatic formatting in Excel support articles. They are written for the Excel desktop app on Windows, where the menu path is the same in Microsoft 365 and other recent versions. Excel for Mac and Excel for the web are covered in their own sections further down.
What This Setting Does and Does Not Do
A hyperlink is text that opens a web page, a file, or a new email message when you click it. By default, Excel creates one whenever you type something it recognizes as an address. Microsoft describes the Internet and network paths with hyperlinks option as the one that replaces typed URLs, network paths, and email addresses with hyperlinks.
Three things are worth knowing before you change it:
- It only affects what you type from now on. Links that are already in a workbook stay clickable until you remove them.
- It does not block links you add on purpose. You can still insert a link yourself or build one with the HYPERLINK function.
- It is a typing option, not a cell format. It sits with Excel’s other AutoFormat options, such as the one that expands a table when you type next to it.
How to Turn Off Automatic Hyperlinks in Excel
- Open Excel and select the File tab at the top left of the window.
- Select Options at the bottom of the left column. The Excel Options dialog box opens.
- Select Proofing in the list on the left side of the dialog box.
- Select the AutoCorrect Options button. A second, smaller dialog box named AutoCorrect opens.
- Select the AutoFormat As You Type tab. This is a different tab from the AutoCorrect tab that the dialog box may show first.
- Clear the Internet and network paths with hyperlinks check box.
- Select OK to close the AutoCorrect dialog box, then select OK again to close Excel Options.
To confirm the change, select an empty cell, type a web address such as www.example.com, and press Enter. The address should stay in the normal cell font, with no blue underline, and clicking the cell should simply select it.
Turn It Off From the Cell With the AutoCorrect Options Button
Microsoft also documents a shortcut that starts from a link Excel has just created, so you do not have to open Excel Options at all.
- Type an address in a cell and press Enter so Excel turns it into a link.
- Move the mouse pointer over the new link. A small AutoCorrect Options button appears next to the text. Microsoft warns that this button is tiny, so look closely.
- Select the button, then choose Stop Automatically Creating Hyperlinks.
The same menu has an Undo Hyperlink choice, which removes only the link you just made and leaves the feature on. If the button does not appear, use the Excel Options steps above instead.
Undo a Single Automatic Hyperlink
If you like automatic links most of the time and only want to skip one, leave the setting alone and undo that link:
- AutoCorrect Options button: point to the new link, select the button, and choose Undo Hyperlink.
- Undo shortcut: press Ctrl + Z right after you press Enter. Microsoft documents this shortcut for removing an automatic link in Outlook. In Excel, undo reverses your most recent action, so it needs to be the very next thing you do.
- Right-click: right-click the cell and select Remove Hyperlink. This works at any time, not just right after typing.
In each case the address stays in the cell as ordinary text.
Remove Hyperlinks That Are Already in the Sheet
Turning the feature off does not clean up old links. Microsoft lists several ways to do that, depending on how many links you have and how they were made.
Before you start: removing links from a whole sheet affects every link on it, including ones you may want to keep. Save the workbook first, and if the result is not what you expected, press Ctrl + Z right away.
- One link, keep the text: right-click the cell and select Remove Hyperlink. Some versions label this command Remove Link.
- One link, delete the text too: right-click the cell and select Clear Contents, or select the cell and press Delete.
- Many links at once: select the cells that contain links, or press Ctrl + A to select every cell, then right-click and select Remove Hyperlinks.
- From the ribbon: select the cells, then on the Home tab select the arrow next to Clear in the Editing group and choose Clear Hyperlinks.
- Links made with the HYPERLINK function: select the cell, press Ctrl + C, then right-click and paste with the Values option. This replaces the formula with the text it was showing.
The Clear menu has other choices that remove more than links. Our guide on deleting data but keeping formatting in Excel explains what each one does.
Select a Linked Cell Without Opening the Link
If you decide to keep some links, you can still select those cells without launching your browser. Microsoft’s Work with links in Excel article gives two ways:
- Click the cell and hold the mouse button until the pointer changes to a cross, then release it.
- Use the arrow keys to move to the cell from a neighboring one.
Excel for Mac and Excel for the Web
Excel for Mac. Mac versions of Office keep AutoCorrect settings in the app’s Preferences instead of a File > Options dialog box. Microsoft’s Office for Mac hyperlink article, which lists Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, writes the steps out for Word: open the app menu, select Preferences, choose AutoCorrect, select AutoFormat as You Type, and clear Internet and network paths with hyperlinks. Microsoft does not spell out the same path separately for Excel, so look for it under the Excel menu > Preferences > AutoCorrect. The wording may differ slightly in your version.
Excel for the web. The browser version has no File > Options > Proofing dialog box, so the main steps in this guide do not apply there. Microsoft’s Undo automatic formatting article lists the web among the versions it applies to, which points to the AutoCorrect Options button described above. If that button does not show up for you in the browser, remove unwanted links after they appear by right-clicking the cell. Do not count on a change made in the desktop app carrying over to the browser.
How to Turn Automatic Hyperlinks Back On
Go back to File > Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options > AutoFormat As You Type, check Internet and network paths with hyperlinks, and select OK twice. Addresses you typed while the feature was off do not turn into links on their own. To convert one, type the address again, or select the cell and add the link yourself with Insert > Link.
Troubleshooting
New addresses still turn into links
Open the AutoCorrect dialog box again and check that the box is cleared on the AutoFormat As You Type tab, not on the AutoCorrect tab. Then make sure you selected OK in both dialog boxes. Closing either one with Cancel or the X discards the change.
Old links are still clickable
That is expected. The setting only stops new links. Use Remove Hyperlinks or Clear Hyperlinks on the cells that still have them.
Remove Hyperlink is missing or does nothing
The link was probably created with the HYPERLINK function, which is a formula and not an attached link. Select the cell and look at the formula bar. If it starts with =HYPERLINK, copy the cell and paste it back with the Values option.
The text is still blue and underlined after removing the link
Clear Hyperlinks on the Home tab can leave the link-style formatting behind. Change the font color and underline yourself, or use the right-click Remove Hyperlinks command instead. That command may also reset other formatting on those cells, so check them afterward.
I cannot find Options on the File tab
You are most likely using Excel for the web or Excel for Mac. See the section for those versions above.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does turning off automatic hyperlinks remove the links I already have?
No. The option lives under AutoFormat As You Type, so it only controls what happens while you type new entries. Links that are already in a workbook stay until you remove them with Remove Hyperlinks or Clear Hyperlinks.
Does the setting apply to one workbook or all of them?
It is an Excel Options setting, not something stored inside one file, so expect it to apply to any workbook you open in that copy of Excel. Microsoft’s description of the Stop Automatically Creating Hyperlinks command mentions the worksheet you are working in, so if links keep appearing in another file, check the AutoFormat As You Type tab directly.
Will this also turn off automatic hyperlinks in Word and Outlook?
Do not assume so. Microsoft gives the same steps for Word (File > Options > Proofing) and a longer path for Outlook (File > Options > Mail > Editor Options > Proofing), so check the box in each app where you want links off. Our guide on how to make a hyperlink in Word covers links in that app.
Can I still add a hyperlink on purpose after turning this off?
Yes. The setting only stops Excel from creating links by itself. You can still select a cell and use Insert > Link, or write a formula with the HYPERLINK function.
Is there a keyboard shortcut to remove all hyperlinks in Excel?
Not a single one. Microsoft lists Ctrl + Shift + F9 for removing all links in Word and Outlook only. In Excel, press Ctrl + A to select every cell, then right-click and select Remove Hyperlinks.
More Excel Guides
Automatic hyperlinks are one of several things Excel changes as you type. These guides cover related cases:
- Why does Excel keep changing my numbers to dates?
- How to stop Excel from removing the second decimal place
- How to add a hyperlink in Google Sheets
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read hundreds of millions of times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.