How to Create Hyperlink

by Chaknith Bin

Excel hyperlinks provide clickable references to locations within the workbook, different files, web pages, or email addresses. They enhance navigation, allowing quick access to related information and external resources. Hyperlinks create interactive and user-friendly spreadsheets, facilitating easy access to additional data or external content.

IronXL enables the creation of hyperlinks for URLs, opening external files from both local and FTP (File Transfer Protocol) file systems, email addresses, cell addresses, and defined name cells without the use of Interop in .NET C#.


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C# NuGet Library for Excel

Install with NuGet

Install-Package IronXL.Excel
or
Java PDF JAR

Download DLL

Download DLL

Manually install into your project

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First Step:
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C# NuGet Library for Excel nuget.org/packages/IronXL.Excel/
Install-Package IronXL.Excel

Consider installing the IronXL DLL directly. Download and manually install it for your project or GAC form: IronXL.zip

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The Hyperlink property exists in the Cell class. The workSheet ["A1"] code returns a Range object, you can use the First method to access the first cell in the range.

Alternatively, you can directly access the cell using the GetCellAt method, allowing you to access the Hyperlink property directly.

Let's explore an example of creating link hyperlinks. Both HTTP and HTTPS protocols are supported.

Before proceeding
Using the GetCellAt method to select an unmodified cell will throw System.NullReferenceException: 'Object reference not set to an instance of an object.'

:path=/static-assets/excel/content-code-examples/how-to/hyperlinks-set-link-hyperlink.cs
using IronXL;

WorkBook workBook = WorkBook.Create(ExcelFileFormat.XLSX);
WorkSheet workSheet = workBook.DefaultWorkSheet;

// Modify the cell's property
workSheet["A1"].Value = "Link to ironpdf.com";

// Set hyperlink at A1 to https://ironpdf.com/
workSheet.GetCellAt(0, 0).Hyperlink = "https://ironpdf.com/";

workBook.SaveAs("setLinkHyperlink.xlsx");
Imports IronXL

Private workBook As WorkBook = WorkBook.Create(ExcelFileFormat.XLSX)
Private workSheet As WorkSheet = workBook.DefaultWorkSheet

' Modify the cell's property
Private workSheet("A1").Value = "Link to ironpdf.com"

' Set hyperlink at A1 to https://ironpdf.com/
workSheet.GetCellAt(0, 0).Hyperlink = "https://ironpdf.com/"

workBook.SaveAs("setLinkHyperlink.xlsx")
VB   C#

Demonstration

Link Hyperlink

To create a hyperlink to a cell within the same worksheet, simply use the cell's address, such as Z20. However, to create a hyperlink across worksheets, you can use the address convention "worksheetName!address". For example, "Sheet2!A1".

Define name cells can have either workbook(global) or worksheet scope. If you want to create a hyperlink to a defined name within the same worksheet or a defined name with workbook scope, you can specify the name directly. To create a hyperlink for a defined name with worksheet scope on a different worksheet, specify the worksheet name as mentioned above. For example, "Sheet2!Iron".

:path=/static-assets/excel/content-code-examples/how-to/hyperlinks-set-hyperlink-across-worksheet.cs
using IronXL;
using System.Linq;

WorkBook workBook = WorkBook.Create(ExcelFileFormat.XLSX);
WorkSheet workSheet1 = workBook.CreateWorkSheet("Sheet1");
WorkSheet workSheet2 = workBook.CreateWorkSheet("Sheet2");

// Create workbook(global) define name
workSheet1["D5"].SaveAsNamedRange("Iron", true);

// Create worksheet define name
workSheet2["D10"].SaveAsNamedRange("Hello", false);

// --== Within the same worksheet ==--
// Set hyperlink to cell Z20
workSheet1["A1"].Value = "Z20";
workSheet1["A1"].First().Hyperlink = "Z20";

// Set hyperlink to define name "Iron"
workSheet1["A2"].Value = "Iron";
workSheet1["A2"].First().Hyperlink = "Iron";

// --== Across worksheet ==--
// Set hyperlink to cell A1 of Sheet2
workSheet1["A3"].Value = "A1 of Sheet2";
workSheet1["A3"].First().Hyperlink = "Sheet2!A1";

// Set hyperlink to define name "Hello" of Sheet2
workSheet1["A4"].Value = "Define name Hello of Sheet2";
workSheet1["A4"].First().Hyperlink = "Sheet2!Hello";

workBook.SaveAs("setHyperlinkAcrossWorksheet.xlsx");
IRON VB CONVERTER ERROR developers@ironsoftware.com
VB   C#

Demonstration

Hyperlink Across Worksheet

In addition to the hyperlink types mentioned earlier, IronXL also supports the creation of FTP, file, and email hyperlinks.

  • FTP: Starting with ftp://
  • File: Specify an absolute path starting with file:///
  • Email: Starting with mailto:

Please note
Both FTP and File hyperlinks require the use of absolute paths.

:path=/static-assets/excel/content-code-examples/how-to/hyperlinks-set-other-hyperlink.cs
using IronXL;
using System.Linq;

WorkBook workBook = WorkBook.Create(ExcelFileFormat.XLSX);
WorkSheet workSheet = workBook.DefaultWorkSheet;

// Set hyperlink to open file sample.xlsx
workSheet["A1"].Value = "Open sample.xslx";
workSheet["A1"].First().Hyperlink = "ftp://C:/Users/sample.xlsx";

// Set hyperlink to open file sample.xlsx
workSheet["A2"].Value = "Open sample.xslx";
workSheet["A2"].First().Hyperlink = "file:///C:/Users/sample.xlsx";

// Set hyperlink to email example@gmail.com
workSheet["A3"].Value = "example@gmail.com";
workSheet["A3"].First().Hyperlink = "mailto:example@gmail.com";

workBook.SaveAs("setOtherHyperlink.xlsx");
IRON VB CONVERTER ERROR developers@ironsoftware.com
VB   C#

Demonstration

Other Types of Hyperlinks
Chaknith related to Demonstration

Chaknith Bin

Software Engineer

Chaknith is the Sherlock Holmes of developers. It first occurred to him he might have a future in software engineering, when he was doing code challenges for fun. His focus is on IronXL and IronBarcode, but he takes pride in helping customers with every product. Chaknith leverages his knowledge from talking directly with customers, to help further improve the products themselves. His anecdotal feedback goes beyond Jira tickets and supports product development, documentation and marketing, to improve customer’s overall experience.When he isn’t in the office, he can be found learning about machine learning, coding and hiking.