How to Insert Hyperlink in Google Sheets

Do you want to link to a specific text/site/source in your Google Sheets but don’t know how? In this post, we will see different methods you can use to insert hyperlink in Google Sheets spreadsheet.

Generally, when we think of Google Sheets we don’t think of hyperlinks. But when you’re designing spreadsheets to sell, you want them to be clear, professional looking and easy to use. Clean & friendly links instead of raw URLs throughout the spreadsheet make it possible. They also make it easy to find a particular information or section easily.

We will see common methods to insert hyperlinks in Google Sheets, examples of when to use each method, and how to best use them in your own spreadsheet.

If you are working through the broader fundamentals of Google Sheets for selling, the Google Sheets tutorial for beginners covers the full picture. This post focuses on hyperlinks specifically.

Key Takeaways

• Method 1: Insert menu (the most beginner-friendly way)
• Method 2: Keyboard shortcut Ctrl+K / Cmd+K (the fastest way)
• Method 3: The HYPERLINK function (for dynamic and formula-based links)
• Linking to another sheet or cell range within the same spreadsheet
• How to edit and remove a hyperlink

1: Insert Menu

This is probably the easiest method and it works on any device with a browser and does not require remembering a keyboard shortcut or writing a formula.

• Click the cell where you want to add the hyperlink.
• Go to Insert in the top menu.
• Click Link from the dropdown.
• A dialog box appears with two fields: Text (the display label shown in the cell) and Link (the destination URL). If the cell already has text in it, the Text field will be pre-filled with that text.
• Type or paste your URL into the Link field.
• Edit the Text field if you want to change what the cell displays, for example, changing a long URL to ‘View Report’ or ‘Click here’.
• Click Apply.

The cell text will appear blue and underlined, which is Google Sheets’ style to show cell contains a hyperlink. Hovering over the cell shows a preview of the URL below it.

If you don’t want to hunt the link button from toolbar, you can use right click too. Right click the cell where you want to insert hyperlink, and select Insert Link. It opens the same dialog box as above and you can follow the

2: Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl+K / Cmd+K

If you don’t want to do the manual steps of opening the toolbar then you can use keyboard shortcut too. This is the fastest method once you have it memorized, and it opens exactly the same dialog box as the Insert menu.

• Click the cell where you want to add the hyperlink.
• Press Ctrl + K on Windows or Cmd + K on MAC
• The link dialog box appears. Fill in the Link field with your URL and optionally edit the Text field.
• Click Apply.

Using keyboard shortcut is much faster if you need to add multiple hyperlinks in one sitting. I generally use keyboard shortcuts and it is a big time saver for me.

3: The HYPERLINK Function

The above two methods essentially help when you want to insert static links in your sheet. But if you want to build a dynamic link that goes to a specific portion of a spreadsheet or a website, then you can use Hyperlink function to insert dynamic links.

The HYPERLINK function is for situations where you need more control, when the link destination needs to be built dynamically from cell values, when you want the link to update automatically when data changes, or when you are building a template where links need to work formula-based rather than statically.

Basic syntax

Here is a basic syntax of Hyperlink function:

=HYPERLINK(url, [link_label])

url  – required. This is the full URL of the link destination, enclosed in quotation marks. Make sure to include the protocol (https://).

[link_label]  – optional. Similar to Display Text in above methods, this is the text displayed in the cell. If you don’t provide anything, it will display the full url as text.

How to use Hyperlink Function

Say I want to insert link to my shop in a cell. I want to display ‘Visit our shop’ and link to my template store.

To do this, I will insert below formula in the cell:

=HYPERLINK(“https://plr.plannerforall.com/amember/cart”, “Visit our shop”)

It will create a link to my store and display

Dynamic example – building a link from a cell value

With the above method, we built a hyperlink to a static url. If you want to auto-generate links based on values in another column, you can do that as well.

Let’s say column A contains product IDs and we want to auto-generate Etsy listing links in column B. Use below formula in column B

=HYPERLINK(“https://www.etsy.com/listing/”&A2, “View listing”)

As you fill in different product IDs in column A, column B automatically generates the correct link for each one. This is where HYPERLINK becomes genuinely powerful, a static Insert menu link cannot do this.

Linking to a specific cell in another sheet using HYPERLINK

Let’s see another scenario where you want to link to cell A1 on a sheet called ‘Instructions’ within the same spreadsheet. We will use below formula to build the hyperlink:

=HYPERLINK(“#’Instructions’!A1”, “Go to Instructions”)

The # symbol tells Google Sheets this is an internal link. The sheet name is enclosed in single quotes (required if the sheet name contains spaces). The cell reference follows the exclamation mark.

For the full reference on HYPERLINK function parameters and edge cases, Google’s official HYPERLINK documentation covers all supported URL types and known limitations.

HYPERLINK vs Insert menu:  Links added with the HYPERLINK function and links added via the Insert menu look the same in the cell, but they behave differently. A function-based link can be copied and will update if the formula references change. An Insert menu link is static — it stores the URL directly in the cell and will not update if cell values change. Use the function when links need to be dynamic; use the Insert menu when links are fixed.

Linking to Another Sheet or Cell Range Within the Same Spreadsheet

In the above method we saw how to link a cell in same sheet. Now let’s see how to hyperlink to another sheet (or tab) in the same spreadsheet. This is one of the most useful hyperlink types for template sellers. A navigation sheet with clickable links to each tab makes a multi-tab spreadsheet dramatically easier to use especially for buyers who are not confident navigating spreadsheets.

How to link to another sheet via the Insert menu

• Click the cell where you want to add the link.
• Go to Insert – Link (or press Ctrl+K / Cmd+K).
• In the link dialog, look at the list below the Link field. Google Sheets automatically shows the other sheets in your spreadsheet as clickable options.
• Click the sheet name you want to link to.
• Edit the Text field to give it a clear label for example, ‘Budget Dashboard’ or ‘Go to Instructions’.
• Click Apply.

Clicking this link in the spreadsheet jumps directly to that sheet. On mobile, it opens in the same view rather than a new tab.

How to link to a specific cell range

• Open the link dialog (Insert – Link or Ctrl+K).
• Below the list of sheet names, click ‘Select a range of cells to link’.
• In the field that appears, type the range you want to highlight for example, A1:D10 or Budget!B5:B20.
• Click OK, then Apply.

When someone clicks this link, Google Sheets jumps to that sheet and highlights the specified range. This is useful for directing buyers to a specific input area or calling attention to a key section of a complex spreadsheet.

How to Edit or Remove a Hyperlink

Now that you’ve inserted a hyperlink, let’s see how you can edit or remove it from your spreadsheet.

Editing a hyperlink

• Click the cell containing the hyperlink.
• A small popup appears below the cell showing the current URL and two icons – a pencil (edit) and a broken chain (remove).
• Click the pencil icon to open the link dialog and change the URL or display text.
• Click Apply to save changes.

Removing a hyperlink

• Click the cell containing the hyperlink.
• In the popup that appears, click the broken chain icon (Remove link).
• The hyperlink is removed. The display text stays in the cell as plain text — it is not deleted.

Removing a HYPERLINK function link

If the link was added using the HYPERLINK function, you cannot remove it using the popup method above. Instead, delete the formula from the cell entirely (press Delete) or replace it with plain text. The broken chain icon only works on links added via the Insert menu or keyboard shortcut.

Frequently Asked Questions

Next Step

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