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Essential Microsoft Project: The 20% You Need to Know
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  • Step-by-step instructions for creating a project plan in under a day
  • Master essential skills like work breakdowns and task sequencing
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  • Rapidly get up to speed if you're new to Microsoft Project
  • Includes glossary, support resources, and sample plans
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Creating hyperlinks in Microsoft Project

by | reviewed 10/08/2023
Hyperlinks are generally thought of as connections to a web page, but they can be used to connect to any kind of file e.g. Word or Excel. Microsoft Project allows you to create hyperlinks on tasks, resources and assignments.

Creating hyperlinks on Microsoft Project tasks

In the task view select the task and right click or use the shortcut Ctrl+K.

In the menu select Hyperlink. The Insert Hyperlink dialog box will open.
This gives the option to link to an existing file or web page, link to a place in the document, create a new document or link to an email address.

insert a hyperlink in MS project
In the Text to display field enter the text that you want to appear to the viewer when the mouse is positioned over the hyperlink symbol.
You can also enter a Screen tip which will also show on mouse hover

if you leave text to display blank the path to the file or to the web page URL is shown.
Select what you want to link to using the Link to: options. "Existing File or Web Page" and "Place in This Document" are the most popular types of hyperlinks.
There is more on linking to a "Place in This Document" below.
Link to: Existing File or Web Page will reveal your computer folder structure in the Look in: area.
You can also choose to navigate your Browsed Pages and Recent Files.

Selecting a file or web page will automatically populate the Address: field.

If you want to link to a URL (web page) which isn't in browsed pages you can simply copy and paste into Address: or you can use the "Browse the Web" button.

browse the web to insert a hyperlink in ms project

Click OK. The hyperlink indicator appears in the Indicators column. ms project hyperlink indicatorDouble-click the hyperlink symbol to open the hyperlinked file.
Alternatively right-click the symbol, click hyperlink and select Open Hyperlink.
If the Indicator column isn't visible right-click the table heading and then choose Insert Column. In the drop-down menu, choose Indicators and click Ok.

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Linking to a task or resource in the Microsoft Project file

When project plans contain hundreds of tasks or resources hyperlinks to other tasks or resources can be very useful. For example a hyperlink could you take you from a task to it's assigned resources or could link from a design task to a related prototype task. You will need the task or resource ID of the task/resource that you want to link to.

Right-click the task, resource or assignment or use Ctrl+K. Choose Hyperlink.

Type a brief description in the Text to display field.
If you don't fill in this box Microsoft Project will default to something like "Gantt Chart!100" where "GanttChart" is the View and "100" is the task ID.

In the Link to: options select Place in This Document.

you can also link to place in the document from Existing File or Web Page by clicking the Bookmark button.
ms project hyperlink to a place in this document
In the Enter the task or resource ID: field enter the ID of the task or resource you want to link to. You can find the task IDs by checking the grey column to the left of the task in the Task table.

ms project task ID
Next select the View that you want to open when the hyperlink is triggered. For example you may want to link to task ID 100 in the Calendar view - Calendar!100.

If you want to link to a procurement, make sure you select a resource view like Resource Sheet or Resource Usage. Otherwise Project will create the link against a task.
Click OK to create the link.

Modifying Hyperlinks

To edit an existing Hyperlink right-click the task or resource. In the menu select Hyperlink. image of modifying hyperlinks in Microsoft Project

You can then choose to Edit Hyperlink, Copy Hyperlink or Clear Hyperlinks.

Read more guides on using Microsoft Project