Word: Getting rid of blue hyperlinks

Don’t you love how Word wants to think for you?

You type a web address and it puts a blue underline underneath it, and you can’t click in the line and edit it! Or you type something like *pretty* and it removes the asterisks and makes the word bold.

You don’t have to take it any more! I’ve documented how to do them in Word 2003 and 2007, but similar features are available in other versions of Word.

Turn off the auto underlining permanently

1. Open the AutoCorrect Options:
   * Word 2003: From the menu, select Tools > AutoCorrect Options.
   * Word 2007: Click the large Office button in the top left, click Word Options, click Proofing, then click the AutoCorrect Options button in the AutoCorrect options section.
2. In both the AutoFormat and AutoFormat As You Type tabs, clear the options for Internet and Network Paths with Hyperlinks.
3. Also clear the *bold* and _italic_ with real formatting option, if it’s causing you unexpected behavior.

Edit a hyperlink

1. Right-click on the link, then select Edit Hyperlink.
2. In the Text to Display field, make the changes.

You can also click the Remove Link button to make the text plain again, or press Ctrl+Shift+F9 in the link to remove the hyperlink.

Make all hyperlinks plain text

1. Press Ctrl+A to select the entire document.
2. Then press Ctrl+Shift+F9.

Be careful—any bookmarks, automatic table of contents entries, or other linked field codes will also be removed.

[This article was first published in the June 2002 CyberText Newsletter; steps last checked and updated for Word 2007, 21 August 2008]
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