How to Delete Hyperlinks in Word: A Complete Guide

Hyperlinks in Microsoft Word can be incredibly useful — until they aren't. Whether you're cleaning up a document before printing, removing auto-formatted links that Word added without asking, or stripping out URLs before sharing a file, knowing how to delete hyperlinks efficiently saves real time. The process varies depending on how many links you need to remove, which version of Word you're using, and what you actually want to preserve.

What Happens When You "Delete" a Hyperlink in Word

It's worth clarifying what removing a hyperlink actually does. In Word, a hyperlink has two components: the display text (what you see on screen) and the underlying URL (where it points). When you delete a hyperlink, you're removing the clickable link and its formatting — the blue underlined style — while keeping the display text intact. If you want to remove the text entirely, that's just standard text deletion.

This distinction matters because the method you choose depends on which outcome you want.

How to Remove a Single Hyperlink

Removing one hyperlink at a time is straightforward in any modern version of Word.

Method 1: Right-click menu

1. Right-click directly on the hyperlinked text
2. Select "Remove Hyperlink" from the context menu
3. The text stays; the link and blue underline formatting disappear

Method 2: Keyboard shortcut

1. Click anywhere inside the hyperlinked text to place your cursor there
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + F9 (Windows) or Cmd + Shift + F9 (Mac)
3. This removes the hyperlink field while keeping the text

The right-click method is faster for occasional use. The keyboard shortcut becomes useful once you're managing a few links across a longer document.

How to Remove All Hyperlinks at Once 🔗

If your document has dozens of links — common when pasting content from websites or emails — removing them one by one is impractical.

Windows shortcut (most reliable method):

1. Press Ctrl + A to select all text in the document
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + F9

This strips every hyperlink field from the entire document in a single action. Display text is preserved. Formatting tied specifically to the hyperlink style (blue color, underline) may or may not revert depending on your document's base styles.

Mac equivalent:

1. Press Cmd + A to select all
2. Press Cmd + Shift + F9

This works in Word for Mac, though the exact behavior can differ slightly between versions of Office for macOS.

Why Hyperlink Formatting Sometimes Stays After Removal

A common point of confusion: after removing a hyperlink, the text may still appear blue and underlined. This happens because Word applies two separate things — a hyperlink field and a character style called "Hyperlink." Removing the field doesn't automatically reset the character style.

To fix this after removing links:

• Select the affected text
• Change the font color back to Automatic (in the Font Color dropdown)
• Remove the underline with Ctrl + U

Or, if you selected all and removed all links at once, select all again and clear formatting using the Clear All Formatting button (the eraser icon in the Home tab). Be aware this will strip all character-level formatting, not just the hyperlink style — so use it with care in heavily formatted documents.

Removing Hyperlinks in Specific Parts of a Document

Sometimes you need a more targeted approach — removing links only within a table, a section, or a pasted block of text without touching the rest of the document.

1. Highlight only the section where you want links removed
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + F9 (Windows) or Cmd + Shift + F9 (Mac)

This applies the removal only to the selected range, leaving hyperlinks elsewhere intact.

Preventing Word from Creating Hyperlinks Automatically

Word's AutoCorrect feature automatically converts URLs and email addresses into clickable hyperlinks as you type. If you'd rather it didn't:

1. Go to File → Options → Proofing → AutoCorrect Options
2. Click the AutoFormat As You Type tab
3. Uncheck "Internet and network paths with hyperlinks"

On Mac: Word menu → Preferences → AutoCorrect → AutoFormat As You Type, same option.

This doesn't remove existing links — it just stops new ones from being created automatically going forward.

Variables That Affect Which Method Works Best

Where Version and Platform Differences Show Up 💻

The core methods above work across Word 2016, 2019, 2021, and Microsoft 365 on both Windows and Mac. That said, a few things shift between versions:

• Word Online (the browser version) has a more limited right-click menu. The "Remove Hyperlink" option is available but the keyboard shortcut behavior can be inconsistent
• Older versions of Word (2010, 2013) support the same Ctrl+Shift+F9 shortcut, but the AutoCorrect menu path may differ slightly
• Word on mobile (iOS/Android) allows removing individual hyperlinks via tap-and-hold context menus, but the select-all shortcut method isn't available

The gap between these environments is real. A workflow that's seamless in desktop Word for Windows may require an extra step or a different approach in Word Online or on a tablet.

How straightforward this all is in practice depends on your specific version, your operating system, and whether the document originated from a web paste, an email, or was built natively in Word — each of those starting points produces slightly different hyperlink structures that respond a little differently to the same removal steps.