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A hyperlink is a link to a publication. When the link is clicked, the linked destination opens. The destination is frequently another Web page, but it can also be a picture, an e-mail address, or a program. The hyperlink itself can be text, a picture, or a shape.

In this article

• How hyperlinks work and how they are displayed

• Create a hyperlink

How hyperlinks work and how they are displayed

When you click a hyperlink, the destination is opened or run, depending on the type of destination. For example, a hyperlink to a page opens that page in a Web browser, and a hyperlink to an AVI (AVI: A Microsoft Windows multimedia file format for sound and videos that uses the Microsoft Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) specification.) file opens the file in a media player.

How hyperlinks are used

You can use hyperlinks to do the following:

• Navigate to an existing file or Web page on a network, intranet, or the Internet.

• Navigate to a file or Web page that you plan to create in the future.

• Send an e-mail message.

• Start a file transfer, such as downloading a file from, or uploading a file to, an FTP (FTP: A communication protocol that makes it possible for a user to transfer files between remote locations on a network. This protocol also allows users to use FTP commands, such as listing files and folders, to work with files on a remote location.) server.

When you point to text or a picture that contains a hyperlink, the pointer becomes a hand , which indicates that it is a link and you can click it.

What a URL is and how it works

When you create a hyperlink, its destination is encoded as a Uniform Resource Locator (Uniform Resource Locator (URL): An address that specifies a protocol (such as HTTP or FTP) and a location of an object, document, World Wide Web page, or other destination on the Internet or an intranet, for example: http://www.microsoft.com/.) (URL), such as http://example.microsoft.com/news.htm or file://ComputerName/SharedFolder/FileName.htm. The following illustration defines the parts of the URL.

 Protocol (protocol: A method of accessing a document or service over the Internet, such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).)

 Web server (Web server: A computer that hosts Web pages and responds to requests from browsers. Also known as an HTTP server, a Web server stores files whose URLs begin with http://.) or network location (network location: In a URL, a unique name that identifies an Internet server. A network location has two or more parts, separated by periods, as in microsoft.com. Also called host name and Internet address.)

 Path (path: The route that the operating system uses to locate a folder or file; for example, C:\House finances\March.doc.)

 File name

What is the difference between an absolute and a relative hyperlink?

An absolute URL contains a full address, including the protocol, the Web server, the path and the file name.

A relative URL has one or more missing parts. The missing information is taken from the page that contains the URL. For example, if the protocol (protocol: A method of accessing a document or service over the Internet, such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).) and Web server (Web server: A computer that hosts Web pages and responds to requests from browsers. Also known as an HTTP server, a Web server stores files whose URLs begin with http://.) are missing, the Web browser uses the protocol and domain — such as .com, .org, .edu — of the current page.

Web pages often use relative URLs that contain only a partial path and file name. If the files are moved to another server, any hyperlinks will continue to work as long as the relative positions of the pages remain unchanged. For example, a hyperlink on Products.htm points to a page named apple.htm in a folder named Food; if both pages are moved to a folder named Food on a different server, the URL in the hyperlink will still be correct.

Using text versus pictures

A textual hyperlink is a word or phrase that has been assigned a destination URL.

A pictorial hyperlink is a picture that has been assigned a destination URL in one of two ways:

• The entire picture can be assigned one hyperlink. In this case, the site visitor can click any part of the picture to go to its destination. An example of a picture with a default hyperlink is a button.
• Different parts of the picture can be assigned different hyperlinks. A picture that contains more than one hyperlink is called an image map. For example, an image map can be a picture that represents different parts of a Web site (such as the home page, a catalog page, and so on). The site visitor clicks a certain area of the image map to go to the corresponding page.

  

How hyperlinks are displayed

Hyperlinks can be indicated in various ways. Web browsers usually underline textual hyperlinks and display them in different colors. For example, this is how a textual hyperlink can look before you click it.

This is how a textual hyperlink can look after you click it.

Hyperlinks on a picture are not always visible, but a site visitor can tell that a picture has a hyperlink by positioning the pointer over it — the pointer changes appearance, usually to a pointing hand . Position your pointer over the following button.

To emphasize a hyperlink even more, you can use an animated image.

Also, a hyperlink usually gives a visual cue about where it leads. For example, the following hyperlink can lead to a Web site's home page: Home Page

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Create a hyperlink

In Microsoft Office Publisher 2007, you can create hyperlinks to files, Web pages, e-mail addresses, other pages in a Web publication, and specific locations on Web pages (sometimes called bookmarks) all by using the Insert Hyperlink button on the Standard toolbar.

You can test a hyperlink before you publish your Web site. To follow a hyperlink from your Web publication before you publish it to the Web, hold down CTRL while you click the linked text or picture.

Create a hyperlink to an existing file

1. Select the text, picture, or shape.
2. On the Standard toolbar, click Insert Hyperlink .
3. Under Link to, click Existing File or Web Page.
4. Do one of the following:
   • To link to a file from your My Documents folder, click Current Folder, and then select the file that you want.
   • To link to a file that you were recently working in, click Recent Files, and then select the file that you want.
   • To link to another file on your computer, click Browse for File , and then find and select the file that you want.

 Note   The hyperlink works only on the computer that contains the file that you link to.

Create a hyperlink to a new file

1. Select the text, picture, or shape.
2. On the Standard toolbar, click Insert Hyperlink .
3. Under Link to, click Create New Document.
4. Type the name of the new file, including the three-letter extension (such as .pub, .doc, or .xls).
5. Do one of the following:
   • If you know the full path to the location where you want to create the new file, you can include the full path with the name.
   • If you don't know the full path, click Change, browse to the location that you want, and then click OK.
6. Click either Edit the new document later or Edit the new document now.

 Note   The hyperlink works only on the computer that contains the file that you created.

Create a hyperlink to a Web page

 Note   If you recently visited the Web page that you want to link to, you can start with step 3. In the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, click Browsed Pages. In the list of Web pages, click the URL that you want.

1. In your Web browser, browse to the Web page that you want to link to.
2. Select the URL of the Web page, and then press CTRL+C to copy it.
3. In Publisher, select the text, the picture, or the shape that will be the hyperlink.
4. On the Standard toolbar, click Insert Hyperlink .
5. Under Link to, click Existing File or Web Page.
6. Click in the Address box, and then press CTRL+V to paste the URL.

Create a hyperlink to a specific location on a Web publication page

1. Add a bookmark to your Web publication.

How?

• On the Web Tools toolbar, click Bookmark .
• In the Bookmark dialog box, type a bookmark name, and then click Add.

  You can add as many unique bookmarks as you need, and later you can move them to the locations where you need them in your publication.

2. Select the text, picture, or shape.
3. On the Standard toolbar, click Insert Hyperlink .
4. In the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, click Bookmark.
5. In the Select Place in Document dialog box, click the bookmark that you want to link to, and then click OK.

Create a hyperlink to an e-mail address

1. Select the text or picture.
2. On the Standard toolbar, click Insert Hyperlink .
3. Under Link to, click E-mail Address.
4. Do one of the following:
   • Type the e-mail address that you want in the E-mail address box.
   • Select an e-mail address from the Recently used e-mail addresses list.
5. In the Subject box, type the subject of the e-mail message.

 Note   Some Web browsers and e-mail programs may not recognize the subject line.

Create a hyperlink to another page in your publication

1. Select the text or picture.
2. On the Standard toolbar, click Insert Hyperlink .
3. Under Link to, click Place in This Document.
4. Select the page that you want.

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