.jpg "Link to a SharePoint File") |
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Can you imagine a scenario where you want to direct someone to a particular section on a Word Document that is saved on SharePoint?
I hope you turned blank. You must have encountered this situation in your workplace.
We can use a feature in Word called 'Bookmark'. But do you know how to use this feature with Word documents saved on SharePoint?
Before we start, if you want to learn more advanced techniques like this one related to Microsoft Office 365, click to enroll for advanced Excel courses.
Here is a quick round-up of how to create a SharePoint link to a section of a Word document.
- Create a Blank Word Document.
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For this example, we will type some text in a Word Document for illustration purposes as below
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Again we created 3 pages with some sections on each of the pages as shown below.
- In Word, add a bookmark - Now, if I want the user to reach Page 3 and near Section 3, I need to create a bookmark in the Word document there. Keep the cursor where you want the bookmark to be created, in our illustration it is next to section 3.
✓ A bookmark in Word functions similarly to one you could put in a book. It designates a location that you want to save and return to in the future. You can add any number of bookmarks as you want, but make sure to give them all distinctive names so you can easily distinguish them.
The below steps will show you how to create a bookmark in Word.
How To Add Bookmark in Word
- Click on Insert > Links > Bookmark
💡 You can also perform this step directly in SharePoint. - If you already have a document on SharePoint that you might want to link to, then open the Word Document on SharePoint and keep the cursor or select the text that should be marked as a bookmark. Next, click on the Link dropdown, then click on Bookmarks, and then on New Bookmark. A new bookmark will be inserted with the name that will be displayed in the Navigation Pane on the left as shown in the below screenshot.
Note that name in the Navigation Pane, we need it in Step 15. If you insert the bookmark directly on SharePoint, you can skip to step 8.
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Give a name to the Bookmark as shown below and Click Add Button
- Save the document and now upload it to SharePoint and follow the steps to find the link.
Find Out the Link to the Word Document Saved on SharePoint
The SharePoint site must be configured to be used with File Explorer. If it is not configured, you can follow the instructions to configure it.
To get the link follow the below steps.
8. Open Microsoft Edge and browse to the SharePoint site or folder where the document is saved.
9. From the address bar of the browser copy the address from the beginning till the slash character next to Shared%20Documents. The link should look like below. The part '---' will be different for every SharePoint configuration.
https://---.sharepoint.com/sites/---/Shared%20Documents/
10. Now paste the link that you copied in the File Explorer window.
Press Enter.
11. Double-click on General Folder, and you will see all the files and folders on the SharePoint listed.
12. Browse to the folder location on SharePoint where the uploaded Word Document is saved.
13. Copy the address from the Explorer window.
14. To the address, append the Filename as well. If the Filename has spaces in it, you have to replace them with '%20'. Now your link would be below:
https://---.sharepoint.com/sites/---/Shared%20Documents/General/Page%20Sections.docx
15. To the link we derived above, append the '#' character and the Bookmark Name we had given in Steps 5 or 6 earlier. So now the link would be below:
https://---.sharepoint.com/sites/---/Shared%20Documents/General/Page%20Sections.docx#Page3Sec3
8. Open Microsoft Edge and browse to the SharePoint site or folder where the document is saved.
9. From the address bar of the browser copy the address from the beginning till the slash character next to Shared%20Documents. The link should look like below. The part '---' will be different for every SharePoint configuration.
https://---.sharepoint.com/sites/---/Shared%20Documents/
10. Now paste the link that you copied in the File Explorer window.
Press Enter.
11. Double-click on General Folder, and you will see all the files and folders on the SharePoint listed.
12. Browse to the folder location on SharePoint where the uploaded Word Document is saved.
13. Copy the address from the Explorer window.
14. To the address, append the Filename as well. If the Filename has spaces in it, you have to replace them with '%20'. Now your link would be below:
https://---.sharepoint.com/sites/---/Shared%20Documents/General/Page%20Sections.docx
15. To the link we derived above, append the '#' character and the Bookmark Name we had given in Steps 5 or 6 earlier. So now the link would be below:
https://---.sharepoint.com/sites/---/Shared%20Documents/General/Page%20Sections.docx#Page3Sec3
How to Link to a Bookmark in SharePoint Document
Now that we have the URL to the bookmark we created earlier, we can link to it from any other Word Document, Excel Workbook, or even from a webpage (HTML). Follow the Steps for Word and Excel which are almost identical.How to insert a SharePoint link to bookmark in Word Document?
We need to insert a link to a specific page in a Word document on SharePoint. Here are steps on how to add a link to a Word Document in SharePoint.
16. Enter some Text as in the below screenshots.
In Word, insert a link to the SharePoint document
Open a Word Document for illustration
In Excel, insert a link to the SharePoint document:
Open an Excel Workbook for illustration
17. Follow the steps below to insert the link.
For Word - To create a SharePoint link to a page in a Word document, select the Text and press 'Ctrl+K'.
For Excel - Select the cell containing the text and press 'Ctrl+K'
In the following dialog, we have to enter the link to the SharePoint document we found in the earlier section.
18. Copy the filename formed in the above step 15
19. In the Address Field, paste the filename and Click OK.
In the following dialog, we have to enter the link to the SharePoint document we found in the earlier section.
18. Copy the filename formed in the above step 15
19. In the Address Field, paste the filename and Click OK.
For Word
For Excel
Now the link points to a section in the Word Document that is saved on SharePoint.
20. Click on the link to see if it works as expected.
If you have done all steps correctly, clicking on the above Sharepoint link will open the document in Word Application separately. If it does not work, follow the troubleshooting instructions here.
Now the link points to a section in the Word Document that is saved on SharePoint.
20. Click on the link to see if it works as expected.
If you have done all steps correctly, clicking on the above Sharepoint link will open the document in Word Application separately. If it does not work, follow the troubleshooting instructions here.
Final Words
Recently, Microsoft has also added the feature to add a bookmark in the Word app online directly on SharePoint. The step to do this is also updated above.
The method described in this post is very useful when you have a very long document that is saved on SharePoint and you need to point someone to a particular section inside that long document.
The method is not limited to Word or Excel Applications, the link to the Word Document saved on SharePoint is a valid URL that can be used in any other applications that can link to URLs such as HTML documents, PowerPoint Slides, Visio Diagrams, and you can even share these URL on any chat application or messaging app if that supports sharing URLs.
If you like this useful hack, let us know in the comments.
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.jpg "Linking to Bookmark in Word Document Saved on SharePoint")
