Yes, Tempus Fugit (Latin for "time flies")...And you thought you were going to learn about hyperlinks...
Is it Vidi Vici Veni or Veni Vidi Vici ??
Oh yeah, hyperlinks...
You might say "you mean hyperlinks like on websites" ( or probably say "you mean like hyperlinks on the Internet"?) You do know the difference, right?
My mind drifts back...it was 1989 when the concepts of websites on the Internet was created by Dr. Tim Burners-Lee (not Al Gore) by implementing http (hypertext transfer protocol) on the Internet allowing hypertext (as it was originally called) to work. Now referred to as hyperlink, the concept is to click on something (originally blue underlined text) and link to information in this "web" of connected information via the Internet. Currently, several things might happen upon clicking a hyperlink: go to another place on the current page, go to another place in the current website, go to another website, a small picture (thumbnail) gets bigger, an email is compiled and ready to be sent, a file (like pdf) opens...
Over the years Microsoft has integrated this concept into the Office applications such a Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and others. Once one knows how to create a hyperlink in one application, it is pretty much the same for all other Office applications.
I will use MS Word 2007 as an example.
Why would I want to use a hyperlink anyway? As with the Internet you can use the hyperlink to have someone click in the Word document and end up at your website. You can have someone click and send you an email. Another option would be able to "link" to any other file within you computer or network (that could be handy; don't even have to know where the file is but could click and wa la, it's open in my face).
Although there are a number of steps, there is not necessarily a "right" order to getting it done... here's just how I tend to do it.
I type some text as in the first case like "See Website". I select the text and then on the Insert Ribbon, Click Hyperlink. The Insert Hyperlink dialog box appears. At the top, Text to Display shows the selected text which can be edited. On the left, the default Link To button is Existing File or Web page. At the bottom is a line for Address. In the Address line type in the address of the website or web page. You could click the Internet Browse button (the globe with magnifying glass icon) to find the site or page on the Internet first.
The button at the top of the dialog box "Screen Tip" allows one to create such (Screen Tip - a caption that appears upon moving the cursor over the hyperlink). Click the button and type.
As far as linking to a file. Just think of the concept first. I could have someone reading a Word doc click to see a related PowerPoint presentation, click to see the supporting information in an Excel file, click to open a related Word doc, etc...(of course one must have the associated application installed on the computer they are using).
Note by default the Insert Hyperlink dialog box contains files in the current directory folder. At the top, you can click the drop down button in Look In and change the directory location. By choosing a file in the list, the Address will contain the information to hyperlink to the file.
So now let's look at the two types of hyperlinks discussed so far. Upon clicking OK on the Insert Hyperlink dialog box your selected text should appear blue and underlined. Upon moving your cursor over the hyperlink, you would see the Screen Tip if created. The cursor will change to a hand with the pointing index finger and upon clicking, you will be looking a website in IE or a file such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF...
Another hyperlink option I mentioned is to send an email via the hyperlink. In the Word doc for example I might type "For More Info", select the text and Insert Hyperlink as before. In this case, click on the "Email Address" button in the Link To bar as it is called. The dialog box changes to enter information about the email address to send to and the subject line. Click OK and now the hyperlink in the document upon clicking with generate a new email with the email address and subject line already filled in. The user could then type in the body of the email and send. The user must already have email software (like Outlook) loaded on their computer for this to work.
So you might agree this hyperlink thing can be VERY useful in the MS Office applications.
Where do you want to go with a click??
Have fun in the meantime until next time, Joel
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