Creating Active Hyperlinks in Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel is an integral part of every office environment. Almost everyone uses it on a regular basis. However, not many know all of the tricks to taking your spreadsheets from dull and average to Super and Exciting. This tutorial will show you a very unusual trick for making your excel spreadsheets look and act more like a web page.

Creating an interesting Table

The first step in having a great spreadsheet is to have tables and charts that stand out. I recommend using bold colors and larger fonts. See my previous entries "Microsoft Excel Timesaving Tips and Tricks", and "Creating an auto updating Chart in Microsoft Excel" to get started on this. Otherwise we will start at the point where you already have your table created and have used the wizard to create a chart from that data.

First, take a look at the table and chart I have created for this to get an idea of what I'm talking about. Click the 2 links below for an example.

Click Here to view formatted table.

Click Here to view formatted chart.

Adding a Name Definition

In order to link within excel, you have to have a location (i.e. F22) defined as a name. The way to do this is quite simple but first you should choose where to put the name. The easiest way to do this is first to scroll down to where you have your chart and center it perfectly where it is the main item on the screen. Then, select the furthest bottom left cell currently on the screen. Once you have done this click on the "Insert" link on the menu then scroll down to "Name" then over to "Define" and click.

This will bring up a small popup screen that allows you to choose where you want the definition and what you want to call it. Click below to view the popup.

Click Here to view.

On the popup window you will notice that the location is already chosen by where selected earlier (on the bottom left of where your chart is). Now you have to name it. To name it simply choose a descriptive term like Sales_Chart where there are no spaces at all. You can use an underscore as a separator but no hyphens or spaces.