Forum Discussion
Making concatenated links clickable
I have a column of digital object identifiers (DOIs) that are not themselves links. In order to make them links, I used a concatenate function (e.g., =CONCAT("https://doi.org/", F2) in the adjacent column to add "https://doi.org/" to each one. Now I have unique links for each DOI, but they're not clickable. I have to copy the text in the cell and paste it into the browser. How do I make the links clickable directly in Excel?
- NikolinoDEGold Contributor
To make the concatenated links clickable in Excel, you can use the Hyperlink function.
Here is how you can achieve this:
- Assuming your original DOIs are in column F and the concatenated links are in column G, select the cells in column G where the links are located.
- Right-click on the selected cells and choose "Hyperlink" from the context menu. This will open the Edit Hyperlink dialog box.
- In the Edit Hyperlink dialog box, you'll see two sections:
- "Text to display": This should already show the concatenated link text.
- "Link": This is where you'll specify the actual link destination.
- In the "Link" section, remove any existing link (if any) and enter the formula =HYPERLINK(F2, "") (assuming F2 is the cell containing the original DOI). Replace F2 with the appropriate cell reference if your DOIs are located in a different column.
- Click on the "OK" button to apply the hyperlink to the selected cells.
Now, the concatenated links in column G will be clickable. When you click on any of the links, Excel will open the default web browser and navigate to the corresponding DOI webpage.
Note: Keep in mind that the links will be clickable in Excel, but the actual hyperlink functionality will depend on the default web browser and its configuration on your computer.
- pdrandallCopper Contributor
NikolinoDE thank you for your reply. I followed your instructions, but the hyperlinks now contain a SharePoint address (where my Excel file is saved) and not a web address. The first link is:
https://mitre.sharepoint.com/sites/fccc2h/Shared%20Documents/General/Base%20Period%20-%20Sep%2030,%202022%20to%20Sep%2029,%202023/Task%203.%20Strategic%20Support/Subtask%203.3/Article2_BroadbandHealthData/=HYPERLINK(F2,%20%22%22)Also, my dialog box looks a bit different: