Hyperlinks can be a useful tool in a document. Anyone reading the document in a digital format will be able to click that link and visit a Web page in their browser. But you may be wondering how to turn off automatic hyperlinks in Google Docs if you would prefer to have more control over what text becomes a link.
You can manually add a link in Google Docs by highlighting some text, then clicking Insert and choosing the Link option.
But you may have noticed that sometimes Google Docs will create a hyperlink on its own when you type a website address into the document.
While this can be a time saver if you want those addresses to become links, it can be annoying when you don’t want that to happen.
This is occurring because of a setting in Google Docs that automatically detects hyperlinks.
Fortunately you can disable this automatic linking in Google Docs with our guide below.
How to Turn Off Automatic Hyperlinks in Google Docs
- Open a Google Doc.
- Click Tools.
- Choose Preferences.
- Uncheck Automatically detect links.
- Click OK.
Our article continues below with additional information on turning off automatic hyperlinks in Google Docs, including pictures of these steps.
How to Prevent Google Docs from Automatically Creating Links (Guide with Pictures)
The steps in this article were performed in the desktop version of Google Chrome, but will work in other desktop browsers as well.
Step 1: Sign into Google Drive and open a Google Doc.
Step 2: Select the Tools tab at the top of the window.
Step 3: Choose the Preferences option at the bottom of the menu.
Step 4: Click the box to the left of Automatically detect links to remove the check mark.
Step 5: Click the OK button at the bottom of the window to apply the change.
Now if you type a Web address into your document, Google Docs will no longer automatically change it into a clickable hyperlink.
Matthew Burleigh has been a freelance writer since the early 2000s. You can find his writing all over the Web, where his content has collectively been read millions of times.
Matthew received his Master’s degree in Computer Science, then spent over a decade as an IT consultant for small businesses before focusing on writing and website creation.
The topics he covers for MasterYourTech.com include iPhones, Microsoft Office, and Google Apps.
You can read his full bio here.