Helpful Pop-up Screen Tips

Suppose you wish to create pop-up screen tips similar to the ones you see in Help files, where the cursor turns to a hand, and when the user clicks the link, a pop-up screen tip appears (as opposed to a link to another page). Ordinarily, just inserting a hyperlink would work. However, the cursor would then move to the target of the hyperlink.

For instance, let's say you wish to create a pop-up screen tip for the word "hyperlink" in the following sentence:

A hyperlink is useful when navigating in Word.

Follow these steps:

1. Make sure the ScreenTips option is selected under Tools | Options | View.
2. Select the word "hyperlink".
3. Choose Bookmark from the Insert menu. Word displays the Bookmark dialog box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Bookmark dialog box.

4. Give the bookmark a name, such as BK1, and click on Add.
5. While the word "hyperlink" is still selected, press Ctrl+K. The Insert Hyperlink dialog box appears. (See Figure 2.)



Figure 2. The Insert Hyperlink dialog box.

6. Click the ScreenTip button. Word displays the Set Hyperlink ScreenTip dialog box. (See Figure 3.)



Figure 3. The Set Hyperlink ScreenTip dialog box.

7. Type the text you want to use for your screen tip and click on OK.
8. Click the Place in This Document button, at the left side of the screen. Word displays a list of locations in the middle of the dialog box.
9. In the list of locations, choose the name of the bookmark you created in step 4, then click OK.

When you're finished, you will have a hyperlink that essentially goes nowhere. When you hold the mouse over it, a yellow screen tip will pop up with your message. If the user clicks on this hyperlink (or Ctrl+click, in some versions of Word), it will change color, flash, and the cursor will go to the beginning of the bookmark.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (657) applies to Microsoft Word 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Helpful Pop-up Screen Tips.