How to Remove Hyperlinks in Excel

Hyperlinks end up in a spreadsheet in a few common ways - Excel automatically converts a typed web address or email address into a clickable link as you type, data pasted in from a web page often brings its links along with it, and some export tools deliberately add a link to a related record in another system. Over time, especially in a large workbook that has been edited by several people, these can accumulate into dozens or hundreds of links that were never intentionally added.

Unwanted hyperlinks slow down large files, since Excel has to track each one, and the blue underlined formatting they carry can clash with a sheet's intended visual style or accidentally send someone to an outdated or irrelevant destination if they click it.

It is worth knowing that Excel treats a hyperlink as two separate things layered on top of each other: the underlying clickable link itself, and the blue, underlined font formatting that visually signals a link is present. Using Remove Hyperlink deletes the clickable link but often leaves the blue underlined formatting behind, which can be confusing since the cell no longer functions as a link but still looks like one. Clearing formatting separately, or using Clear Formats, removes that visual leftover so the cell returns to plain, ordinary text.

Doing both steps together is usually what people actually want when they say they want to "remove hyperlinks" from a sheet.

A common mistake is using Remove Hyperlinks and assuming the cell is now completely back to plain text, when the blue underlined formatting frequently remains behind and needs a separate Clear Formats step to fully reset. It is also worth being cautious with Clear Formats, since it removes all formatting on the selected cells, not just the link styling, so any font size or column-specific formatting you wanted to keep will need to be reapplied afterward.

1. Select the range of cells containing hyperlinks you want to remove.
2. Right-click the selection and choose Remove Hyperlinks.
3. If the blue underlined formatting remains, go to the Home tab and click Clear, then Clear Formats.
4. Reapply any formatting you want to keep, such as font size or column width, since Clear Formats resets everything.
5. Save the file once the cells display as plain text without links or leftover link styling.

Right-clicking and clearing formatting works for a single selection, but a large workbook with links scattered across many sheets, or a folder of files that all need the same cleanup before distribution, calls for a faster approach. Turbo Excel Cleaner's Remove Hyperlinks feature strips both the underlying link and its associated formatting from every cell across every sheet in every file you load, in one pass.

This is frequently combined with Remove Cell Comments as part of a pre-distribution cleanup routine, clearing out everything that was useful for internal collaboration but has no place in a final file meant for external sharing or archiving.

• Removes both the clickable link and its blue link formatting
• No separate Clear Formats step required
• Applies across every sheet in every file in the batch
• Pairs well with comment and note removal for final cleanup
• Works on Excel, OpenDocument, and delimited text formats