Hyperlinks and URLs

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Hyperlinks can be used in Calc to create spreadsheets that will be used in a web interface or to jump to a different location from within a spreadsheet. This section covers inserting, editing, removing, and using hyperlinks.

Relative and absolute hyperlinks

Hyperlinks can be stored within your file as either relative or absolute.

A relative hyperlink says, Here is how to get there from where you are now (meaning the folder in which your current document is saved) while an absolute hyperlink says, Here is how to get there no matter where you start from.

An absolute link will stop working only if the target is moved. A relative link will stop working only if the start and target locations change relative to each other. For instance, if you have two spreadsheets in the same folder linked to each other and you move the entire folder to a new location, a relative hyperlink will not break.

To change the way that OOo saves the hyperlinks in your file, select Tools > Options > Load/Save > General and choose if you want URLs saved relatively when referencing the File System, or the Internet, or both.

Calc will always display an absolute hyperlink. Don’t be alarmed when it does this when you have chosen a relative hyperlink — this 'absolute' target address will be updated if you move the file..

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In the example below, the path is D:\My Documents for the linked file. That is because the folder both sheets are in is in that directory.

File:CG3Ch9F16.png
Files on D drive

If we move that folder to the H:\ drive, the links in Calc will automatically update because we have not changed the location of the files relative to each other. Both files are still in the working with multiple sheets folder.

File:CG3Ch9F17.png
Files on H drive
File:CG3Ch9F18.png
Directory with linked files
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Updated links on H drive

Again, note that in the examples, the path is displayed as absolute even though it is relative.


Content on this page is licensed under the Creative Common Attribution 3.0 license (CC-BY).

Creating hyperlinks

When you type text (such as a website addresses or URL) that can be used as a hyperlink, OOo formats it automatically, creating the hyperlink and applying to the text a color and underlining. If this does not happen, you can enable this feature using Tools > AutoCorrect > Options and selecting URL Recognition.

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You can also insert and modify links using the Hyperlink dialog. To display the dialog, click the Hyperlink icon HyperlinkIcon.png on the Standard toolbar or select Insert > Hyperlink from the menu bar. To turn existing text into a link, highlight it before opening the Hyperlink dialog.

On the left hand side, select one of the four types of hyperlinks:

  • Internet: a web address, normally starting with http://
  • Mail & News: for example an email address.
  • Document: the hyperlink points to another document or to another place in the presentation.
  • New document: the hyperlink creates a new document.
Hyperlink dialog showing details for Internet links

The top right part of the dialog changes according to the choice made for the hyperlink type. A full description of all the choices, and their interactions, is beyond the scope of this chapter. Here is a summary of the most common choices used in presentations.

For an Internet type hyperlink, choose the type of hyperlink (choose between Web, FTP or Telnet), and enter the required web address (URL).

For a Mail and News type hyperlink, specify whether it is a mail or news link, the receiver address and for email, also the subject.

For a Document type hyperlink, specify the document path (the Open File button opens a file browser); leave this blank if you want to link to a target in the same presentation. Optionally specify the target in the document (for example a specific slide). Click on the Target icon to open the Navigator where you can select the target, or if you know the name of the target, you can type it into the box.

For a New Document type hyperlink, specify whether to edit the newly created document immediately or just create it (Edit later) and the type of document to create (text, spreadsheet, etc.). For a presentation, Edit now is the more likely choice. The Select path button opens a directory picker.

The Further settings section in the bottom right part of the dialog is common to all the hyperlink types, although some choices are more relevant to some types of links.

  • Set the value of Frame to determine how the hyperlink will open. This applies to documents that open in a Web browser.
  • Form specifies if the link is to be presented as text or as a button. The figure below shows a link formatted as a button.
OOo Authors hyperlink as button
  • Text specifies the text that will be visible to the user.
  • Name is applicable to HTML documents. It specifies text that will be added as a NAME attribute in the HTML code behind the hyperlink.
  • Event button: this button will be activated to allow OOo to react to events for which the user has written some code (macro). This function is not covered in this book.

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Editing hyperlinks

To edit an existing link, place the cursor anywhere in the link and click Edit > Hyperlink. The Hyperlink dialog opens. Make your changes and click Apply. If you need to edit several hyperlinks, you can leave the Hyperlink dialog open until you have edited all of them. Be sure to click Apply after each one. When you are finished, click Close.

The standard (default) behavior for activating hyperlinks in OOo 3 is to use Ctrl+click. This behavior can be changed in Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Security > Options, by deselecting the option Ctrl+click required to follow hyperlinks. If clicking in your links activates them, check that page to see if the option has been deselected.

Removing hyperlinks

To remove a hyperlink, select it and press the Delete key. The Delete dialog opens if it is a text hyperlink.

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