Microsoft has announced changes to the way in which hyperlinks are added to Word documents. The company says that it wants to make working with hyperlinks as easy as working with text, and is therefore simplifying link creation across Word for Windows, macOS and the web.
While it could be argued that the previous method of converting a word or portion of text into a hyperlink was not exactly an arduous task, the change Microsoft has come up with makes it even faster and easier. So, how does it work?
The change means that there is now no need to highlight a word or text, right click and use the context menu to indicate that you would like to make the selection a hyperlink. Word has become contextually aware, cutting down on the number of steps this process now takes.
Announcing the changes in a blog post, Microsoft says:
We believe that tasks you do every day in Word, like hyperlink text, should feel effortless – which is why we’ve made the whole process a lot quicker. Now, you can simply highlight a word or phrase and paste the link directly onto it, and this will automatically add a hyperlink. Whether you’re sharing resources with your team or citing articles in a report, this feature helps you stay in the flow by reducing clicks and letting you focus on your words instead of formatting.
The post goes on to explain what has now been reduced to a two-step process:
- In a browser, copy the link you want to include in your document.
- In Word for the web, Word for Windows, or Word for Mac, select the text you want to add the link to, and then paste the hyperlink
The rollout is underway to users of the macOS and Windows versions of Word; you just need to have the latest versions installed – version 16.104 (Build 25120915) or later, and version 2511 (Build 19530.20006) or later respectively. With the change being made server-side for Word on the web, you can take advantage of the new approach immediately.
