Hello Everyone, 

I received a question asking me how to imbed a web page address, as a hyperlink, into an email message.

WHEN:
Sometimes, it is preferable to imbed a web address into an email message as a hyperlink rather than typing the web address directly into the message because doing so  may cause the email recipient to receive a broken link.  For example, if the web address is too long, the email recipient may receive the address split between two lines rather than appearing on a single one.  Should this happen, clicking the URL will not launch the intended page, thus, the URL is considered broken. 

By imbedding a web page address into the email as a hyperlink, you only need to instruct the email recipient to click specific text in order to launch the site.

FORMAT:
Understand that in order to imbed a hyperlink into an email message, the message must be formatted as an HTML document rather than a plain text document. 

Be aware that many email clients and list servers disable HTML attachments and code because HTML emails may contain hidden malicious scripts and/or programs that may infect the recipient’s computer or Smart Phone.

Therefore, only send an HTML formatted email message to those expecting such emails from you or as a last resort necessary to keep a long web page URL from becoming broken on the recipient’s computer or Smart Phone.

HOW:

NOTE::
The following instructions are based on the Microsoft Outlook 2003 email client running on the Microsoft Windows XP Professional Operating System. 

To learn how to imbed hyperlinks in email messages using your email client, consult the application user’s guide or Google the name of your email client followed by such search phrases as “how to imbed hyperlinks”.

Also, this tutorial assumes that you are acquainted with the basic steps necessary to compose an email message.

1.
Open a new email message. 

2.
Place the Insertion point in the body section of your email message.

3.
Confirm that the message format is set to HTML.  Note that you can change the email formatting at anytime during the composition process. 

4.
Enter the text of your email.  Note that somewhere in your email message, you should type in something like, “Click Here” to read the article.

5.
Select the text you wish to use as the hyperlink.

6.
From the Insert menu, choose Hyperlink.  A Dialog box will open.

7.
In the URL address edit box, enter the web page address.  For example, http://www.google.com (without quote marks).   In order to minimize mistakes, I strongly suggest that you first bring up your intended page in your web browser.  Next, select, the URL by using the ALT+D command.  This command is valid for both Internet Explorer and Fire Fox.  Once you have the URL selected, copy it to your computer’s clipboard by either selecting Copy from the browser’s Edit menu or by using the CTRL+C command on your computer keyboard.  Finally, paste the web page address into the URL address edit box by either  selecting Paste from the browser’s Edit menu or by using the CTRL+V command on your computer keyboard.

8.
After you have successfully pasted the web page address into the URL address edit box, click the “OK” button.  This will close the Dialog box.

NOTE::
To test a hyperlink before sending the email, on your computer keyboard, hold down the [CTRL] key while clicking the Left Mouse button on the newly inserted hyperlink.  If the link has been correctly imbedded, doing this will launch the web page in your browser.

9.
Send the email message.

Congratulations!  You did it.

Mark