Hyperlinks in Protected Documents

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 24, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Word allows you to create protected forms that come in handy for some purposes. When you protect a document, then the user can only fill in certain fields or use a limited subset of Word commands and options. One feature that is no longer available when you protect a document is hyperlinks—they are no longer clickable.

What if you need your hyperlinks to be active in a protected document? One solution is to remember that protection is applied by section in a document. Thus, you could put a section break before the hyperlink and one after it. Your document would then have three sections, and you could protect the first and third. Leave the section containing the hyperlink unprotected, and it will still be clickable.

The drawback to this approach, of course, is that anything in the unprotected section—including the hyperlink—is editable. If you don't want the hyperlink to be editable, then you need an entirely different solution. One that will work is to use a MacroButton field to display the hyperlink. The MacroButton field also specifies a macro to run when it is clicked, so the macro can be used to initiate the link to the remote resource.

The macro you would use is as follows:

Sub GotoLink()
    Selection.Hyperlinks(1).Follow
End Sub

Within the document, you use the following compound field:

{ MACROBUTTON GotoLink { HYPERLINK "http://word.tips.net"} }

Remember that this is a compound field—a field within a field. Each set of field braces is inserted with the Ctrl+F9 shortcut. When the result of the field is displayed, the specified URL is visible, but when it is clicked on, the macro GotoLink is executed. It is the macro that follows the hyperlink to its destination.

You can find more information about this technique at the following Word MVP page:

http://wordmvp.com/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/HLinksInForms.htm

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (3801) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Working on Shared Templates

In many companies it is common to have standard templates accessible through the internal network. If you have templates ...

Discover More

Delimited Text-to-Columns in a Macro

The Text-to-Columns tool is an extremely powerful feature that allows you to divide data in a variety of ways. Excel even ...

Discover More

Protecting Your Conditional Formatting Rules

If you have conditional formatting applied in a worksheet, the formulas in those formats may not be as secure as you ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Making Live URLs Into Normal Text

Convert those URLs into regular text! It's easy to do when you follow the steps in this tip.

Discover More

Checking for Valid Hyperlinks

If you have a document containing a lot of hyperlinks, it would be cool if there was a way to check all those hyperlinks ...

Discover More

Replacing Plain Text with a Hyperlink

Active hyperlinks can be a desired feature in some types of documents. If you want to replace multiple instances of plain ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 4 - 4?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.