Get hyper!

Note: Let me know if this helped you. I’m not sure if this tip is above, at, or below my readers’ level. (Thanks, Tawyna, for your comment. I almost didn’t publish this post.)

Hyperlinks allow you to reference another article or source to support your point. They also cut down on the number of words you need because the content was said elsewhere.

Hyperlinks empower the reader to decide how much depth they want to spend on a particular subject. The interested reader can click for more – or not. I’ll describe how to hyperlink in the Microsoft suite of products such as Word, Excel, and Outlook. The WordPress convention is similar.

Get the icon first

For your convenience, add the hyperlink icon to your toolbar. To do so, go to “View” from the dropdown menu and select “Toolbars,” then “Customize,” then “Insert.” Scroll down the “Commands” until you find an icon that looks like a globe (think “worldwide web”). On top of it is a little chain link. Drag this icon to your toolbar.

Hyperlinking

Select which words you want to hyperlink.

Assuming a right-handed mouse setting, push the left mouse button when you are over the first word in your selection and move to the right until you “cover” all the words you want to be underlined (so they can be clickable). Then let go of the mouse button. The words you’ve selected should now be in blue and the words should appear in white.

Push the globe-chain icon described above.

Here, you have a choice. You can:

(a) type in the address to the location you seek (include the http:// part); or,

(b) go to the location in a separate window. Go to the address bar (where the link resides) and click on it once with a left mouse click. That should highlight the entire address.

Then depress the “CTRL” key (and keep it depressed) while you hit the letter “C.” (So you will have CTRL and “C” down at the same time ~ this is the “copying” part.)

Go back to the pop-up screen that appeared when you hit the globe+chain icon. In a similar fashion, depress the CTRL and letter “V” at the same time ~ this is the “pasting” part ~ and hit “OK.”

You hyperlinked something!

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