How to Insert a Hyperlink into an E-mail Using Microsoft Outlook 2003 or 2007

Hyperlinks in E-mail

Oftentimes we have the need collaborate on projects and share documents such as Excel spreadsheets or Word documents. This can lead to documents being e-mailed back and forth, which not only generates confusion, but also uses up e-mail space; a valuable resource.

There is a better way...

Any type of a file, be it a Word, Excel, PDF, image file, or all others, can be hyperlinked to in an e-mail.

Hyperlinking to documents as opposed to e-mailing them has several advantages:

· Hyperlinks take up zero additional space in e-mail - no bulky attachments!

· Users can keep a collaborative document in a centralized location on a shared drive.

As a result, both efficacy and efficiency can be increased.

Note: Outlook must first be setup to edit e-mail messages with Microsoft Word before a hyperlink can be created in an e-mail.

From the body of an e-mail there are three ways to bring up the Insert Hyperlink dialog box:

1. From the top menu, select "Insert," then select "Hyperlink..." from the menu.

2. In the body of the e-mail, right click to bring up the context-sensitive menu. Select "Hyperlink..."

3. From the body of the e-mail, press Ctrl+K.

All three methods will bring up the Hyperlink dialog box.

The Hyperlink Dialog Box

The Hyperlink dialog box contains to two important fields:

· Text to display - This is the text that the recipient of the e-mail can click on in order to follow the hyperlink.

· Address - The address is the actual path that the hyperlink will follow to the document.

Note: If text is highlighted in the document before opening the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, then that text will automatically appear in the "Text to display" field.

Inserting the Link

1. Use the "Browse for File" icon to locate an object to link to. Once the object is selected, the path will be added to the "Address" field. (The path will also be added to the "Text to display" field if text was not highlighted before opening the Insert Hyperlink dialog box.)

2. Check the "Text to display" field to make sure that the appropriate text will be displayed for the hyperlink.

3. Press "OK."