Beam Me Up Scotty – Excel Hyperlinks

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What are Hyperlinks ?

A Hyperlink is a reference to a document, a location or an action that the reader can directly follow by selecting the link.

Hyperlinks are used extensively on the Internet and are generally Words highlighted in Underlined Blue <– Like that.

The use of Hyperlinks in Excel has been extended to a number of areas and this includes:

  • Opening Files (of any type)
  • Opening Web Pages (Internet or Intranet)
  • Jumping/Navigating to locations within an existing document
  • Creating New Documents (Excel files only)
  • Sending Emails

Microsoft has added the ability to place Hyperlinks,

  • Directly on an Excel worksheet ,
  • Connected to a number of worksheet objects, including shapes, charts and wordart
  • Included as a worksheet formulas.
  • Programmatically using VBA

These 4 methods above will be discussed here.

Inserting Hyperlinks

As described above there are 4 methods for inserting hyperlinks in an Excel Workbook.

Directly on an Excel worksheet

There are 3 ways to insert a Hyperlink directly into a cell, either:

Right click on the cell and select Hyperlink; or

Use the Insert, Hyperlinks Tab; or

Use a Keyboard Shortcut – Ctrl K

Connected to a number of worksheet objects, including shapes, charts and wordart

You can also add a Hyperlink to many objects within Excel including Pictures, Shapes, Text Boxes, Word Art and Charts.

Right clicking a lot of these objects brings up the Objects Shortcuts Menu, select Hyperlink…,

or

Select the object, Use the Insert, Hyperlinks Tab; or

Select the Object and Use the Keyboard Shortcut – Ctrl K

Hint: Right Clicking on Charts Doesn’t Show the Add Hyperlink option, so Select the Chart and Ctrl K

Adding Hyperlinks using Worksheet Formulas.

Hyperlinks can be added using worksheet formulas.

=HYPERLINK( Link Location, Name)

Link Location: This is the path and file name to the document to be opened.

The Link Location can refer to a place in a document – such as a specific cell or named range in an Excel worksheet or workbook, or to a bookmark in a Microsoft Word document. The path can be to a file that is stored on a hard disk drive. The path can also be the path on a server or a URL, HTTP or FTP and a location of an object, document, World Wide Web page, or other destination on the Internet or an intranet. The Link Location can be a text string enclosed in quotation marks or a reference to a cell that contains the link as a text string.

Name: This is the text or value that is displayed in the cell.  The Name is displayed in blue and is underlined.

Eg:

Jump to a cell on Another sheet

=HYPERLINK(Sheet3!B3,”Monthly Budget”)

The above  will add a Hyperlink, titled “Monthly Budget” and link to Sheet3!B3 of the current workbook

Jump to a Named Range on Another sheet

=HYPERLINK(Budget,”Yearly Budget”)

The above  will add a Hyperlink, titled “Yearly Budget” and link to the Named Range “Budget” of the current workbook

Open a File on a network Drive

=HYPERLINK(“//Server01\01 Administration\Administration.docx”,”Open Admin File”)

The above  will add a Hyperlink, titled “Open Admin File” and link to the file at: //Server01\01 Administration\Administration.docx

Open a File on a network Drive at a specific bookmark

=HYPERLINK(“[//Server01\01 Administration\Administration.docx]Contents”,”Open Admin File @ TOC”)

The above  will add a Hyperlink, titled “Open Admin File @ TOC” and link to the Named Section “Contents” of the file at: //Server01\01 Administration\Administration.docx

Jump to a Web Page

=HYPERLINK(“http://chandoo.org/wp/”,”Goto Chandoo.org”)

The above  will add a Hyperlink, titled “Goto Chandoo.org” and link to http://chandoo.org/wp/

Send an Email

=HYPERLINK(“mailto:chandoo.d@gmail.com”,”Email Chandoo”)

The above will add a Hyperlink, titled “Email Chandoo” and send an email to chandoo.d@gmail.com

Adding Hyperlinks Programmatically using VBA

Hyperlinks can be added to a worksheet or a worksheet object programmatically using some simple code

Sheets(SheetName).Hyperlinks.Add Anchor:=Sheets(SheetName).Range(Range), Address:=””,  SubAddress:=”Address!Range“,  TextToDisplay:=Name

Where:

SheetName: The Name of the Sheet where the Hyperlink is to go

Range:  The Range where the Hyperlink is to go

Address!Range: The address and Range linked to in the Hyperlink

Name: The Display Name of the Hyperlink

Types of Hyperlinks

There are 5 Types of Hyperlinks which Excel offers, each is described below:

  • Existing File
  • Existing Web Page
  • Place in This Document
  • Create a New Document
  • Send an Email Link

Existing File

Select the existing File or Web Page icon in the Link to: area

Navigate to the existing file using the Look in: area of the dialog

Add your Display Text in the Text to display: area

Add a ScreenTip…, a Tip which is displayed when you hover the mouse over a Hyperlink

Use the Bookmark… button to jump to predefined Named Ranges and common Cell References dialog

Existing Web Page

Select the Existing File or Web Page icon in the Link to: area

Navigate to the existing file using the Look in: area of the dialog

Add your Display Text in the Text to display: area

Add a ScreenTip…, a Tip which is displayed when you hover the mouse over a Hyperlink

Place in This Document

Select the Place in this Document icon in the Link to: area

Type in Cell Reference using the Type in Cell Reference: area of the dialog or select a Defined Names in the Defined Names area

Add your Display Text in the Text to display: area

Add a ScreenTip…, a Tip which is displayed when you hover the mouse over a Hyperlink


Create a New Document

Select the Create New Document icon in the Link to: area

Type in the Name of the New Document in the Name of the New Document: area of the dialog.

Add your Display Text in the Text to display: area

Add a ScreenTip…, a Tip which is displayed when you hover the mouse over a Hyperlink

You can choose wether to Edit the File Now or Later in the When to Edit area

Send an Email Link

Select the Email Address icon in the Link to: area

Type in the Email Address in the Email Address: area of the dialog.

Add your Display Text in the Text to display: area

Add your Email Subject in the Subject: area

Add a ScreenTip…, a Tip which is displayed when you hover the mouse over a Hyperlink.

Editing Hyperlinks

Once you have a hyperlink established you can edit the hyperlink by right click on the hyperlink and select Edit Hyperlink

The Edit Hyperlink dialog will vary depending on the type of Hyperlink as described above.

Deleting Hyperlinks

Once you have a hyperlink established you can delete the hyperlink by right click on the hyperlink and select Remove Hyperlink


Hyperlink Uses

Hyperlink can be used for a number of uses as described above.

Tables of Contents

One common use of hyperlinks is the creation of Tables of Contents.

The construction of a Table of Contents page was discussed here Table of Contents

The construction of Tables of Contents can also be automated using some simple VBA.

So instead of reinventing the wheel I will direct you to The Microsoft Office Blog where Tables of Conents were recently discussed.

Table of Contents 1 or Table of Contents 2

Dealing with Lots of Hyperlinks

The following 2 posts at http://chandoo.org/forums have solved users problems and will easily be adapted to other Hyperlink issues

Find Dead Hyperlinks

http://chandoo.org/forums/topic/check-broken-external-hyperlinks

Edit Hyperlinks

http://chandoo.org/forums/topic/marco-for-editing-link-in-workbook

How have you used Hyperlinks?

How have you used Hyperlinks?

Let us all know in the comments below:

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63 Responses to “Custom Chart Axis Formating – Part 2.”

  1. Stephen says:

    Hui, these are cool little tricks. Not one I need today, but well worth remembering for future dashboards

  2. Ed says:

    I recently learned what I thought was a really simple but useful number format. A custom format followed by ;;; will not display 0 values. Example format #,##0.00,,;;; will display 12,570,000 as 12.57 and display 0 as blank. I found that this really helped me reduce some of the clutter on dynamic charts. Thanks for another good article.

  3. Fred says:

    Like! 🙂

  4. Fred says:

    hi Hui,

    Once I have created a custom format, how do I remove/delete it from the list again? I tried a few methods such as right click (no option to remove). I tried hi-lighting the custom format and hit the delete key. Nothing works.

  5. Hui... says:

    @Fred,
    Unlike the Custom Number format dialog for cells they don't have a Delete Button on the Chart Number Formats dialog, Maybe next version?
    .
    If you don't want to use your Custom Format select one of the built in formats.

  6. davidlim says:

    hi chandoo and all,

    great tips on the formatting.

    1 curious answer: Is it possible to highlight Sat/Sun for DATES on x-axis?

    assuming i have 1 month of daily product sales, x-axis = dates, y-axies = sum of sales.

    thanks!

  7. Hui... says:

    @Davidlim
    .
    You have limited options here as you can only use 3 conditional ranges in the [ ] brackets
    So you can do something like
    [Green][<40787]ddd;[Blue][>40788]ddd;[Red]ddd
    This will make:
    Dates earlier than September 2011 Green
    Dates after September 2nd 2011 Blue
    Dates on September 1 or 2nd, 2011 Red
    .
    Otherwise you can use the techniques where you use a Combination chart and color the weekend column a highlight color to emphasize them
    Have a look at: http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/08/26/combo-charts-to-group-times/
    Download the file just below:
    Download this excel combo chart and play with it to learn more

    Select the hidden bars and apply a fill

  8. Fowmy says:

    Great post,

    I would like to know a way to apply custom formatting to the horizontal axis.
    Suppose, I want to highlight F,G & H in Red

  9. Hui... says:

    @Fowmy
    As far as I'm aware it can't be done using Custom Formats
    You can of course use cells lined up under the chart and do the Conditional Formatting in those cells

  10. Donald says:

    @Hui:
    How do I get the number formats to work on a Dynamic Chart.i.e: Chart with different scaling based on different data sources. For example, if I have five KPI and each have a Target, how do I get the chart to dynamically change number format based on the data selected?

  11. Hui... says:

    @Donald
    Have a read of this Forum and my comments and see if that helps you
    http://chandoo.org/forums/topic/making-vlookup-recieve-multiple-formats-of-data

  12. Donald says:

    @Hui: Thanx for the speedy comment, I've checked the link and your last comment is almost what I need but I can't get it right for my application. See below my problems. Data below is displayed on the dynamic graph. The Graph only shows two data lines Target and the actual KPI data. on the data line I won't to highlight the numbers based on the info below relative to the Target line.
    KPI Target GREEN ORANGE RED
    DCR 1 and 1.2
    BSS Setup 99 >99 95> and <99 <95
    TCH BLK 0.5 and 1
    SD BLK 0.5 and 1
    UL_TBF S_Rate 90 >85 85> and <90 85 85> and <90 <85

  13. Hui... says:

    @Donald
    Do you want to email me this file
    I'm struggling to visualise this
    add instructions please

  14. Jonas says:

    I remember seeing a blog post some time ago about the number format colors. The default green color is ugly, and there was some neat trick to change that into more dark green version. I think it had to do with assigning some code instead of [green].

  15. Donald says:

    @Hui: I just forward you a mail now. I've also noticed that the custom only allows two conditions and I struggling to put more custom for same chart. As indicated, the graph has different target format i.e 1% and 95%.

  16. Oleksiy says:

    @Donald: I'm not sure what do you want to get in your case, here is what I've used in my dashboard for different KPI values:
    [50000]$#,K;0
    I have %'s, monthly sales amounts (all > $50000) and invoice counts. However I didn't apply this formatting to the axis number format - it will always have 0 as 0.00% - any ideas how to avoid this?

  17. Oleksiy says:

    Formatting in my comment above should be as following: [50000]$#,K;0

  18. Oleksiy says:

    one more time: [50000]$#,K;0

  19. Donald says:

    @Oleksiy: Follow link on Hui comment (11). Looks like it might address your problem.

  20. Oleksiy says:

    @Donald: I have done similar for series values already, just for some reason Chandoo's website modified my comment from "/<1/0.00%; /50000/$#,K;0" where / - [ and ]. 🙂
    Problem is that I can't apply this to the axis format as it always has zero.

  21. Fred says:

    Thanks, Hui.

  22. Tamoghna Acharyya says:

    Hello Hui, Please suggest how can I highlight ( making it bold or colored) a particular month among 12 months that I put in X axis.

  23. Hui... says:

    You can use the same technique with Dates that are Dates, but not when they are Text.
    That is if your X-Axis has dates, apply a custom number format like
    [Red][<=40790]d-mmm;[Black]d-mmm
    that is Dates <= 4 Sept 2011 will be Red, others will be Black where 40790 is the serial number for 4 Sept 2011 You can change the Date Format d-mmm to whatever suits you . [Red][<=40790]d-mmm;[Black][<40798]d-mmm;[Green]d-mmm
    Red <=4 Sep Black < 12 Sep Green >= 12 Sep
    .
    The Date fomats can change as well
    [Red][<=40790]d mm;[Black][<40798]d-mmm;[Green]d mmmm yy
    Red <= 4 Sept; displayed as 4 09 Black < 12 Sept; displayed as 12-Sep Green >= 12 Sept; displayed as 12 September 11

  24. Tamoghna Acharyya says:

    Thanks a lot Hui for your great suggestion. So it is only possible for months not for any other texts!

  25. Hui... says:

    @Tamoghna
    Its possible for any Numbers, %, $, Dates or Times,
    Which are all numbers anyway.

    It is not possible for Text

    If you need to do text, you can consider using Text Boxes or cells behind the chart where you can apply conditional formats to.
    So instead of using the Built In axis labels, make the chart transparent and place a number of Columns behind the chart with the approriate text and Conditional Formats in it
    A similar approach can be done using Text Boxes linked to cells

  26. Linda says:

    Hui,

    This is great and very timely because I suddenly have a need for lables that change format according to the values - so thank you.

    A quick question however, on a slightly different issue. Is it possible to format the markers so they don't show for a zero value but do show for any value above or below zero.

    Thanks,

    Linda

  27. Hui... says:

    @Linda
    try a format like
    [red]0;[green]-2;;
    .
    Note the custom format layout is
    Positive;Negative;0;Text
    .
    so by having a third parameter of ;;
    you get no format when it is 0

  28. Linda says:

    Hui,
    Thanks for the quick response. However, I don't seem to know where to type the format. I can see how to do this for the Labels but not for the actual graph marker itself. Esentially I want the marker to show if there is a value, but not if it is 0.

    Appreciate your help.

    Linda

  29. Hui... says:

    @Linda
    Sorry, I'd misread your requirements
    Where your data is, change the formula to be
    =if(my formula=0, na(), my Formula)
    .
    You may have to change the settings
    Select chart
    Right Click, Select data
    Hidden & Empty cells
    Adjust to suit

  30. Linda says:

    Hui,

    Thank you so much that worked well. I had a couple of problems at first because I had the graph type set as a line and the #NA had no effect. However, once I changed it to XY scatter, your suggestion worked like a treat!

    Thanks so much for your help

    Linda

  31. Aashtee says:

    Hello Hui,
    I have a data validation cell (A1) with a dropdown list for "Qty" and "$$$".
    My data set is values that I plot asa Pie Chart (In Column B1).

    These values are conditionally read from 2 different tables depending on the drop down list selection for $$$$ or Qty.
    I have conditionlly formatted all cells in B1 to display number format as Number (0 decimal places) or Currency $ again dependent on selection made in A1.

    Now my pie chart is updating correctly based on my selections and data but the labels do not get formatted to Number or Currency automatically.
    How can I conditionally format the labels based on selection in A1?

  32. Hui... says:

    @Aashtee
    You can't conditionally format chart objects against another cell only against there own values.
    If the values for Qty and price are different
    ie: Price $100-200
    Qty 1-20
    you can use a Custom Number format like
    [Blue][>=100]$#,###.00 ;[Red][<100]#,###;
    .
    But if they overlap it can't be done

  33. Annie says:

    Hi Hui,

    I'm trying to customize the x-axis from 0,1,2,3,4,5 to read: 0, KG, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. How can I do this?

    Also, the x-axis figures are currently on top of my chart, how can I move these to be on the bottom?

    Thanks!

  34. Annie says:

    It's a clustered bar chart that I'm using to show when curriculum was developed for different subjects. The y-axis indicates the year the curriculum was developed and the x-axis corresponds to the grade level (KG is short for kindergarten, followed by Class 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5).

    • Hui... says:

      @Annie
      I'm struggling with an easy solution for this one
      One way would be to delete the axis altogether or use a Custom Number format like ;;;
      Then setup a manual set of cells with the 0 K 1 2 3 4 etc which would be located behind the chart and then resemble the Axis Labels
      or
      Setup a Text Box/es with the same Sequence 0 K 1 2 3 4 etc and place that where the axis would be
      Once properly located and sized, The Text Box could be grouped with the chart so that they remain fixed to each other.

    • Kyle McGhee says:

      Hi Annie,

      I think this might work for you...basically what Hui said but a couple small tweaks.

      use this custom format
      General;[<0]"0";"KG"
      It will make negatives appear as 0 and 0 appear as KG, positive numbers will remain as they are.

      Then select the x-axis and ctrl+1 to go to format axis.
      Axis Options
      1/Set Minimum to -1 (Fixed)
      2/Set Maximum to 5 (Fixed, optional)
      3/Vertical axis crosses; Axis Value = -1

      In your data, make sure that all data points relating to KG are 0.

      Your clustered bar chart should have 0 KG 1 2 3 4 5 for the x-axis labels.

      Kyle

  35. Annie says:

    THANK YOU SO MUCH!

    This worked perfectly. I really appreciate all of your help.

    Phew!

    Annie

  36. Kyle McGhee says:

    minor note on the customer format I posted...it doesn't need the [<0] in General;[<0]"0";"KG". You can just use General;"0";"KG"

  37. Majid says:

    hi drea,
    thank you so much !
    i am from iran.
    this site is very good for me.
    this site has very good information from excel.
    by

  38. Russ Urquhart says:

    I need to do something like your highlight thousands as K, but to this degree:

    1?      0.000001
    10?     0.00001                                                                                 100?    0.0001                                                                                  1m      0.001                                                                                   10m     0.010                                                                                   100m    0.100
    1       1.000                                  
    10      10.000                                                                                  
    100     100.000         
    1k      1000.000                                                                                10k     10000.000                                                                               100k    100000.000                                                                              1M      1000000.000                                                                             10M     10000000.000                                                                            100M    100000000.000                                                                           1G      1000000000.000                                                                          10G     10000000000.000                                                                         
    100G    100000000000.000   

    From what i've been told i can not express all of that as a chart label number format, so i was looking at other options.

    Within VBA and Excel, how can i apply a NumberFormat like this to a chart?

    Any help is greatly appreciated!

    Russ 

  39. Russ Urquhart says:

    Actually the numbers ghot screwed up when i pasted.

    They should be like

    1K     1000.0
    10K    10000.0
    100K    100000.0

    etc.

     

  40. Yousuf says:

    My y axis goes from 0 to 1 with increments of 0.1
    I want it do be displayed in terms of p10,p20 all the way to p100
    For ex instead of 0.1 i want p90 and instead of 0.2 i want p80 all the waiy to p0. Is this possible?

    • Hui says:

      @Yousuf
      You can't do maths in Number Formatting apart from the Power of 10 tricks discussed here: http://chandoo.org/wp/2012/01/31/custom-number-formats-multiply-divide-by-any-power-of-10/
      However you can still do what you want
      Setup your chart
      Select the Y Axis and set Max to 1, Min to 0 and Major Unit to 0.1
      With the Chart selected Add text boxes and type the text you want for each Axis Point eg: p10, p20 etc
      Locate the text boxes in the correct locations using the Axis as a guide
      Set the text size, font, Bold etc to suit
      Select all the text boxes and group them
      Select the axis and set the text color to None
       
       

  41. lonchas says:

    How can I use an image instead of a text on chart axes? I would like to use companies logos instead of using the names on x-axis. Is it possible?

  42. Bisal Kumar Garg says:

    I have data labels in percentage format. which custom format i should use to have green color fornt if more then 100% and red color font if less then 100%.

  43. Shelly says:

    I'm hoping you can help. I have a dynamic chart for financial data. Most of the charts have a y axis based on $ with a couple charts that are a %. I can not use a option mentioned above since some of the $s have a negative value. I tried conditional formatting the source, but the 'Link to source' does not pick up the conditional formatting. Is there a way to have the y axis dynamically change from $ to %. I am using a combo box to change the data on the chart.

  44. ERik says:

    The “linked” data from my table is conditional formatted to be red based off of some criteria. I want my chart axis to be red too, but it only picks up the number format, not the conditional formatting.

    Is there any way to link conditional formatting of sourced data to axis labels?

  45. Shabbir says:

    You are awesome chandoo. Thanks

  46. Louie says:

    Hi Chandoo,

    Your posts are very helpful.

    Is there a way to conditionally format the data label position/location (in addition color, as you have shown in this post)?

    I have some line charts with markers showing the same measure from year to year. Each chart has two lines. One of the lines is an average of participants in the group and stays the same. The other line is for each participant and gets updated dynamically to produce about 50 unique charts total. If I put the data labels "above" or "below," they look good for about half the participants, then overlap or are confusing next to each other for the remaining half of the participants (given that the one line is the average of all participants). Right, left, and center do not look good, as they overlap the lines. I tried using the Chart Tools---> Design---> Style 2, which makes the markers bigger and places the data label inside the marker. However, for the 3-4 participants per year who have about average values, the marker for the participant overlaps with that for the average and makes the labels unreadable.

    Thank you for any help you can offer!

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