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I am using Office for Mac and in Excel cells (a document that a colleague sent to me) and what looks like URLs are not 'real' in the sense that clicking on them, they do not become a hyperlink that leads to a web page. How to make it work?

How to turn URL-style text into a real hyperlink such that clicking on it takes one to a web page? I've tried "Insert", "Hyperlink" and tried cut and pasting it into the box which asks for the hyperlink. Doesn't work; won't even paste it into the box. Must be a way to convert 'black text' URL-looking links into real hyperlinks?

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3), Office for Mac (Excel)

Posted on May 22, 2015 9:07 PM

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16 replies

May 22, 2015 9:15 PM in response to SeparateReality

Not if the individual that created the sheet did not include the actual URL. It could also be a hyperlink to another area of the spreadsheet. At least that is how it can work in the Windows version. Again in the Windows version, which I'm familiar with, you can keep URL information, but still remove the hyperlink to just display the info. This is also what can happen if content is disabled to prevent malicious scripts. In the Windows version, you may have to use Ctrl-click to use the link; I'm not sure what the Mac equivalent of that would be.

May 22, 2015 9:39 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

Chris,

Thanks much for the rapid reply. We are working on a project involving international airline carriers & restrictions of carrying hazardous cargo (regulated by the International Airline Transportation Association -- IATA -- the organization that regulates everything to do with air transport of anything). For example, it is illegal for a commercial airliner to carrier cargo that may ignite (I'm not talking about terrorism & cell phones (for example) which use lithium as a component, rather, a zillion things that domestic airlines carry as "cargo". Example is 'Lithium for the manufacturing of battery cells'. It's OK for a plane to carry X amount but large containers under certain conditions can ignite. Not a good thing.


IATA is a huge, public organization and regulates virtually anything that flies. For example, IATA develops regulations that impact many things and publishes them. If an airline refuses to bide by IATA regulations, it is not allowed to land in most countries. The info is not proprietary, rather in the public domain so I wouldn't think there would be any restrictions re: the URLs & hyperlinks?


The following is the text in the box (I think it was cut and pasted from IATA's regulations) but all text comes in black:


SIGNIFICANT CHANGES AND AMENDMENTS TO THE 55TH EDITION (2014) OF THE IATA DANGEROUS GOODS REGULATIONS

See below:

https://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/dgr/Documents/Significant%20Changes%20to%205 5th%20DGR-EN%20(20130901).pdf


In Office for Mac (Excel) instructions, it has the following steps but doesn't seem to work: Select "Insert", scroll to "Hyperlink". A pop-up appears with several options, including a box that says "insert hyperlink". I tried cut and pasting the link described above but it won't even paste the link in.


Apologies for the long comment.

May 22, 2015 9:53 PM in response to SeparateReality

Don't worry about the length of the comment, and I understand what you are saying. I'm afraid it may be something in the difference between the way Excel for Mac and the Excel for Windows works. Also, I know in the Windows version (which I teach) you can protect cells, and prevent changes to spreadsheets, even when trying to work together on a project. I'm not aware of the keyboard shortcuts for Mac, but for Windows, if I cannot use the Paste button on the ribbon, I can use Ctrl+V and paste the data. Is something like that possible for the Mac?

May 22, 2015 10:13 PM in response to SeparateReality

I'll try your suggestion. Oddly, I noticed when I replied to your comment, the hyperlink showed in blue, and in fact worked -- I tried it.


I know how to protect cells and the entire document in Mac/Excel (probably the same way you do it but you know far more about this than I), however, I've tried every way I can think of to make the link show & work, i.e., cut and pasted it into Word and still didn't work.


Will try Ctrl+V & let you know.

May 22, 2015 10:37 PM in response to SeparateReality

Chris,


Here's a screen shot of the pop-up box. In fact, I was making it harder on myself. One simply needs to highlight the black-font "link" and at the bottom of that, among other options, it says "hyperlink". (Does not say "make into a hyperlink"; it seems intuitive that is exactly what it would do. Not.


I tried highlighting the "black link" and pasting it into the "Link to" box, however, nothing happened. Tried Ctrl+V and still no-go. The "Display" box is in fact the title of the IATA document so I would think the link is 'pointing' at the portion I want to show via the hyperlink. My Q probably doesn't make sense.


User uploaded file

May 23, 2015 8:33 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

Chris and Tom,


Thanks for your replies. I'm at an Apple store and managed to gather around me the uber-IT-nicks at the store (I know most).


This issue became a "project" for the group and to their chagrin, they didn't solve it. They were unsure why clicking on what appears to be a hyperlink in (Excel) Office for Mac would not simply take one to the web. We tried copying the URL and pasting it via various ways back into the worksheet.....didn't work.


I am definitely NOT an IT person, thus, I openly bow before all of you. But I had an idea that worked (sort of) but didn't quite get us there.


If one copies the URL from Excel (again, from Office for Mac) and pastes it into "Text Edit", it pastes in blue, however, you have to click it again to get a prompt that says something like "Hyperlink". We tried that and it worked, i.e., once pasted into Text Edit, it could be clicked and the link worked (took us to the document). We hoped by reversing the process, i.e., cut and pasting the workable link BACK INTO THE EXCEL SPREADSHEET that it would auto-magically work. Did not.


Tried the same by cut & pasting into Word....that was even worse.


(From the IATA website): "The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is the trade association for the world’s airlines, representing some 250 airlines or 84% of total air traffic. We support many areas of aviation activity and help formulate industry policy on critical aviation issues.


I point this out to indicate that IATA is a publicly-available organization, i.e., their published info (zillions of pages) is not proprietary no protected from public view.


From IATA's website: "The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is the trade association for the world’s airlines, representing some 250 airlines or 84% of total air traffic. We support many areas of aviation activity and help formulate industry policy on critical aviation issues."


It is involved with, for example, every recent airline crash in some way. Their investigation results are not published on their site for years (of course) but their extensive rules and regulations are. The Apple folks think that maybe our client (who provided us this worksheet; it's loaded with Macros and drop-down menus of all sorts) somehow protected the worksheet such that it disabled the simple "click the URL" that one would expect. If they DID protect it somehow, (if so, it was not intentional....it's not in their interest to do so -- they need the info).


The following is a screen shot of IATA text that we cut and pasted into an Excel worksheet for a client. What you see is exactly as it appears from the IATA site with the exception that the URL is embedded in the text and does not work once we copy & paste this into our worksheet. We (and Apple-ites from their store) tried everything we could think of to make it work: pull it out into another application, past it back in, etc.


After reading the paragraph and finding the URL, let me know if you have any ideas as to make it work. The client obviously doesn't want to have to go thru endless steps to make it work, inc. simply cutting and pasting the URL. The spreadsheet has a zillion URLs and to cut and paste each one for them to merely scan the contents for applicable to their business is not the best use of their time; all understand that. The point is that they need to (ideally) scan thru the info, clink on a link that they may be interested in, scan whatever they see, close it out and keep moving. They are a global giant & terrific company; they, like all of us arejust too busy to go thru many steps to get their info.


They have politely requested that our spreadsheets included links that work (their own IT department is probably north of several thousand, however, it's not their job to fix subcontractor's problems).


It may be as Chris says: making it into a workable link using Microsoft's Excel works but not in Mac's version. This problem has the Apple store stumped.


If you can solve this, I'm sure you will get boxes of apples from Apple for as long as you like. And my and the Apple guys thanks.


Here you go:


User uploaded file

May 23, 2015 10:12 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Header 1 Header 2 Header 3 Header 4
The MARPOL amendments which entered into force on January 1, 2014 include a revised MARPOL Annex III Regulations for the prevention of pollution by harmful substances carried by sea in packaged form, to include changes to the Annex to coincide with the next update of the mandatory International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code, specifying that goods should be shipped in accordance with relevant provisions. See the details in the text: http://www.ombros-consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Res.MEPC_.19361.pdf
-Amendments to the Annex of the Protocol of 1978 relating to the international convention for the prevention of pollution from ships, 1973 (Amendments to form A and form B of supplements to the IOPP certificate under MARPOL Annex I). See the details in the text.

https://www.amsa.gov.au/environment/legislation-and-prevention/marpol/documents/ 235-65.pdf

May 23, 2015 10:20 PM in response to SeparateReality

Tom,

Sorry.....I was just doing that when your note came in. Strange, but when I pasted the cell into this message (is a different cell than I sent before), the hyperlinks appear in blue. I won't test them now lest they screw up this note to you.


My lengthy Q could have been shortened to: "Is it possible to make URLs embedded in original text from another source and cut/pasted into Office/Mac/Excel open when clicked? When original text is pasted into an Excel cell, all is black and clicking on what appears to be a URL does nothing.

May 23, 2015 10:28 PM in response to SeparateReality

Tom,

My note before this one was sent just as yours came in re: "Did you try highlighting and the copying the black link and then doing COMMAND + V?"


Yes, the Apple guys tried that too and couldn't get it to work.


Do you see blue links in the note I just sent that begins with "The MARPOL amendments which entered......"?


If so, seems that cut/pasted text from original source w/working hyperlinks, then pasted into Office for Mac/Excel (where the links do not work), then cut/pasted to another location, i.e, this string, subsequently work? Not sure I described that correctly.

May 24, 2015 6:06 AM in response to SeparateReality

SeparateReality wrote:


My note before this one was sent just as yours came in re: "Did you try highlighting and the copying the black link and then doing COMMAND + V?"


Yes, the Apple guys tried that too and couldn't get it to work.




Have you tried it yourself? When I have a url copied to the clipboard and then do Command V with the Insert Hyperlink dialogue open (putting the url in both the Link to and Display boxes) and then do OK, I get a working hyperlink in the excel cell.


(Conversion of http sequences into working hyperlinks is a function of the particular app, some do it automatically and some do not).

May 24, 2015 1:36 PM in response to SeparateReality

Tom, this did the trick, THANKS! I tried following the Apple guy's flurry in trying to figure out was wrong (but it also got them on programming tangents that had nothing to do with my problem....understandable I suppose). I took notes and thought I'd try on my own, however, they must have missed something because I left w/o resolution.


I appreciate your undeserved patience and an answer that helps us tremendously.

I am using Office for Mac and in Excel cells (a document that a colleague sent to me) and what looks like URLs are not 'real' in the sense that clicking on them, they do not become a hyperlink that leads to a web page. How to make it work?

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