Update Hyperlinks in an Word Document

Due to the ever changing nature of the Internet and the fact that links can change over time, it may be necessary to perform a mass change of the links in a Word Document. To facilitate that change, there is a simple process you can follow to update all of the hyperlinks (web page links) in a Word Document that you could then export as a PDF if needed.

NOTE: The following was tested in Word for Windows.  Word for Mac should have the same options and we will be confirming that (and updating the document) as needed.

1) Open your document in Microsoft Word. 

2) Press the ALT + F9 keys on your keyboard (note that on some laptops you may need to also add the FN key if you do not have a full set of F keys on the keyboard). This displays the internal field codes in Word which will allow us to search and replace the links.

3) Open the Find and Replace option located on the Home part of your ribbon at the top of Word. It can be found in the Editing subsection of the Home option.

4) In the window that appears, select Find and then select More at the bottom of the Find window.

5) Copy and Paste the part of the URL you need to change in the Find box. Select Reading Highlight and then Highlight All. This will allow you to ensure that the item you are searching for is correct.

6) If everything in Step 5 is correct then you can select Replace in the dialog box. Ensure that the item you searched for in Step 5 is still in the Find: area. 

7) Paste the new part of the hyperlink in the Replace area. Then select Replace.

8) If the changed hyperlink looks correct, you can now select Replace All. This will change all of the hyperlinks to the correct address.

9) Close the Replace dialog box. Press the ALT + F9 keys on your keyboard like we did in Step 1 to stop displaying the field codes.

10) Save your document and if needed, Export to a PDF file (or other file format). 

11) Open the document and test several of the links to ensure that they are opening to the correct page.

At this point your document will be ready for disbursement! If you run into any other issues or questions with bulk editing of documents, please Start a Conversation with us from the link above.