Hyperlink Formatting

By default, Word recognizes network and hyperlink addresses and formats them much as you would see them appear on a Web page. Normally, this means that the text shows up as blue and underlined. Word provides the ability for you to change the way in which hyperlinks are formatted throughout your document. This is because default formatting for hyperlinks is done using a defined character style.

To change the formatting of your hyperlinks, follow these steps:

1. Display the Styles task pane by displaying the Home tab of the ribbon and then clicking the small icon at the lower-right corner of the Styles group.
2. Click Options at the bottom of the Styles task pane. Word displays the Style Pane Options dialog box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Style Pane Options dialog box.

3. Using the Select Styles to Show drop-down list, select All Styles.
4. Click OK to close the Style Pane Options dialog box.
5. In the list of styles, hover the mouse pointer over the Hyperlink style. You should see a drop-down arrow appear at the right side of the style name.
6. Click on the drop-down arrow and choose Modify. Word displays the Modify Style dialog box. (See Figure 2.)



Figure 2. The Modify Style dialog box.

7. Click on the Format button and choose Font from the resulting drop-down list. Word displays the Font dialog box. (See Figure 3.)



Figure 3. The Font dialog box.

8. Modify the font settings for your hyperlinks, as desired.
9. Click on OK to close the Font dialog box. The Modify Style dialog box is still visible.
10. Make sure the New Documents Based On this Template radio button is selected, at the bottom of the Modify Style dialog box.
11. Click on OK.
12. Close the Styles task pane.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (10249) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Hyperlink Formatting.