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Checking for Valid Hyperlinks

Summary: If you have a document containing a lot of hyperlinks, it would be cool if there was a way to check all those hyperlinks and make sure they weren't broken. Word doesn't provide such a feature, but there are ways you can help to accomplish the task. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, Word 2003, and Word 2007.)

Raghu has a document that has a good number of hyperlinks in it to various Websites. He wants to step through each of the hyperlinks and have them checked, programmatically, to see if they are valid links that don't generate errors.

There is no way to do this automatically in Word, as such functionality is not built into the program. If you only have a few links in the document, you might try saving it as an HTML file. You could then load the file in Internet Explorer and click each link to see if it is valid.

If you are searching for a more automatic method of checking, you would need to create a macro that would step through the links in a document and check them out. The VBA code could end up being rather complex.

Perhaps a better solution, rather than writing your own code, is to use a third-party add-in that can do the checking for you. In searching around, the following add-in was discovered:

http://www.ablebits.com/word-hyperlink-manager-addins/index.php

We haven't tried this add-in, but it appears to do everything that Raghu wanted. Perhaps the best news: the add-in is free.

Tip #517 applies to Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

More Power! For some people, the prospect of creating Word macros can be scary. WordTips: The Macros can help you conquer your fears and you'll discover you're much more confident and productive as you make Word do exactly what you want. This is an invaluable source for learning macros. You are introduced to the topic in bite-sized chunks, pulled from past issues of WordTips. Learn at your own pace, exactly the way you want.
 
Check out WordTips: The Macros today!