Hyperlinks Part 4 Adding a Link to a Place in a Document

If you read my last post, you know that I'm going to talk about adding a hyperlink to a place within the same document. Adding hyperlinks is a convenience for your reader. When you save a document as a PDF, the hyperlinks are saved as active links that your reader can use.

Insert a Hyperlink

1. To make this work, you must have applied Heading styles to topic headings and/or added bookmarks to mid-topic locations. The destination must be defined before you can link to it.
2. Locate the place in the text where you want to add the link...the origination...and highlight the text.
   
   For example, if you've written an extensive description of the ship Helvetia on page 40 of your document (the destination), you would either apply a Heading style to the topic heading or create a mid-topic bookmark. Later, when you mention the Helvetia on page 120, you are going to want to  select the word Helvetia (the origination) and link it to the description on page 40 (the destination).
3. Display the Insert Hyperlink dialog.
   --Word 2007/2010: On the Insert menu, in the Links group, click Hyperlink.
   --Word 2003: On the main menu, click Insert, and then click Hyperlink.
   Or, right-click to display a pop-up menu, and then click Hyperlink.
   
   
4. In Link to, click Place in This Document. The list of destinations in the box on the right updates to include places where you've applied a heading style or added a bookmark.
5. Select a heading or bookmark, and then click OK. The text you selected is formatted as a hyperlink.

Testing the Link

If you want to confirm that the link works, hold down the Ctrl key, and then click the link. Your document scrolls from the origination (the link) to the destination (the text with the heading style applied or the bookmark). 

When you test your document, you are functioning as a reader of your document. After you execute the link, you'll note that you have no way to get back! Well, you have no obvious way back. Hold down the Alt key, and then click the left arrow key. The document scrolls back to the origination; that is, the place you were reading.

Links in PDFs

If you're reading in a PDF and you've turned on the thumbnails or bookmarks, the good news is that after you click the link, the PDF saves your place. The PDF shows the last thumbnail or bookmark as the last place you scrolled to; that is, where you clicked the link. Click the thumbnail or bookmark to return to where you were reading. 

More to come in later posts...see you then...