Changing How Links are Activated

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 22, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

Fay has two documents linked to each other—a form linked to an information document. On her work PC when she hovers the mouse pointer over the link, it shows as a "pointer hand." On her PC at home she doesn't get the hand but can right-click and select to open the link. Fay is wondering why the behavior is different on the two systems and what she can do to fix her home PC.

The behavior difference that Fay notes is actually controlled by a configuration setting within Word. In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 or a later version display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options. Click Advanced and display the Editing Options portion of the options. (These are the options at the very top of the Advanced options.) (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Advanced options of the Word Options dialog box.

Pay attention to the setting named Use CTRL+Click to Follow Hyperlink. If this check box is selected, then Word requires the use of the Ctrl key to activate the link. (Or, as Fay did, right-clicking the link and selecting to open it.) If the check box is unselected, then you'll get the "pointer hand" and be able to simply click on a link to follow it.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (6052) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Working with Compressed Files and Folders via NTFS Compression

Windows 10 provides two ways to work with compressed files and folders. One way is to use NTFS compression, which is ...

Discover More

Increasing Space between Numbers and Text in a List

You can easily create numbered lists in your document. Most versions of Word even allow you to modify the distance ...

Discover More

Mail Merge Magic (Table of Contents)

The mail merge tool available in Word is powerful, allowing you to use data from a variety of sources to create hundreds ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Adding Hyperlinks

Adding a hyperlink to a text selection is easy to do in Word. All you need to do is make a couple of clicks and specify ...

Discover More

Making Live URLs Into Normal Text

Convert those URLs into regular text! It's easy to do when you follow the steps in this tip.

Discover More

Creating Hyperlinks from E-mail Addresses

Got a document that has a whole raft of e-mail address in it? You can easily convert all of them to clickable hyperlinks ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is seven more than 7?

2025-06-12 05:56:24

Marc

The only website where i found the answer to my question, was here . Thank you verrrrrrryyyyyyyy much.

2024-01-22 17:12:13

Jim

Great tip. I never knew the "pointer hand" was available in Word.
Also, the tip says "In Word 2010 or a later version display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options."
I have Word 2019 and I have to display the File tab of the ribbon, click More and then click Options.

2020-06-03 01:57:41

Sally

Great tip, thanks!

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.