Pop-up Windows in Word

Word does not provide any intrinsic "pop-up" feature that results in a small window containing information when you click on a word or a link. The closest that can be found in Word is the ScreenTip feature, which displays a small ToolTip-like "hint" when you hover the mouse pointer over a hyperlink. ScreenTips can be created as follows:

1. Select the word (or words) that you want the ScreenTip associated with.
2. Press Ctrl+K. Word displays the Insert Hyperlink dialog box.
3. Click on the ScreenTip button at the upper-right of the dialog box. Word displays the Set Hyperlink ScreenTip dialog box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Set Hyperlink ScreenTip dialog box.

4. In the ScreenTip Text box, enter the text you want to use for your ScreenTip.
5. Click your mouse on OK to close the Set Hyperlink ScreenTip dialog box. The Insert Hyperlink dialog box should still be visible.
6. Set any other hyperlink values, as desired. (You will need to specify a target for the hyperlink you are creating. I suggest picking a location within the current document unless you have a need for a different target.)
7. When completed, click on OK.

Remember that this process inserts an actual hyperlink. The ScreenTip text, though, appears when the user hovers the mouse pointer over the hyperlink you just added. Other than ScreenTips such as this, there is nothing else close to a "pop-up" feature in Word. One could be created, however, if you create a macro that displays information using the MsgBox function, and then you associate that macro with a MACROBUTTON field. When the user clicks on the button created by the field, the message in the macro is displayed in a dialog box. This is not an automatic display (as is the case with a ScreenTip), as it requires the user to actually click the field button.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11255) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Pop-up Windows in Word.