Creating a Hyperlink that Opens the Linked Object

Summary: Hyperlinks can be very helpful for loading and displaying external resources. But they are less useful for opening and displaying objects embedded within the current document. This tip examines why this is so. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, Word 2003, and Word 2007.)

Sivakumar has inserted an object (MyFile.pdf) in the second page of a Word document. He wants to create a hyperlink that, when clicked, opens the PDF file.

It would seem that there really is no way to do this in a Word document. While it is often helpful to insert a PDF file into a Word document (that way the file travels with the document when you send it to others), there is no way to open the embedded file without double-clicking on the icon for the file.

Perhaps a workaround is to not insert the PDF file into the Word document. You could, instead, place the PDF on a Web server somewhere—so it is always at a static location—and then insert a hyperlink to the file in the document. When someone clicks on the hyperlink, what happens next depends on how they have their browser configured. If it has the capability to open PDF files (many do, if not most), then the PDF will be opened.

Tip #153 applies to Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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Creating a Hyperlink that Opens the Linked Object