Hyperlinks

A hyperlink in a Word document points either at a URL or at a bookmark inside the same document. Both come from Paragraph.AddHyperLink, and the difference is which setter you call afterwards. The link text is not the paragraph’s text: it comes from runs added to the HyperLink itself.

The three are mutually exclusive. SetTarget and SetTargetByRef clear the anchor, SetTargetBookmark clears the relationship ID, so the last call wins.

Adding a link

para := doc.AddParagraph()
bm := para.AddBookmark("_bookmark1")

hl := para.AddHyperLink()
hl.SetTarget("http://www.google.com")
hl.SetToolTip("hover to see this")
run := hl.AddRun()
run.Properties().SetStyle("Hyperlink")
run.AddText("Click Here to open google.com")

jump := para.AddHyperLink()
jump.SetTargetBookmark(bm)
jump.AddRun().AddText("Click Here to jump to the bookmark")

SetTargetBookmark reads the bookmark’s name, so you don’t have to keep the Bookmark value around. Document.BookmarkByName will find one that was added elsewhere, and it returns a second value reporting whether the name was found.

SetToolTip with an empty string removes the tooltip rather than setting a blank one.

Making a link look like a link

A document from document.New() has no Hyperlink character style, so a link run inherits body text formatting and renders in plain black. That is why the second link in the sample output below is not blue: its run never sets a style. Define the style once and apply it to every link run:

hlStyle := doc.Styles.AddStyle("Hyperlink", wml.ST_StyleTypeCharacter, false)
hlStyle.SetName("Hyperlink")
hlStyle.SetBasedOn("DefaultParagraphFont")
clr := color.FromHex("#0563C1")
hlStyle.RunProperties().Color().SetColor(clr)
hlStyle.RunProperties().SetUnderline(wml.ST_UnderlineSingle, clr)

AddStyle returns the existing style when the ID is already present, so calling it again on a document opened from a template that already defines Hyperlink hands you that style instead of creating a duplicate.

Limitations

Nothing checks that the anchor exists. SetTargetBookmark copies the name out of the Bookmark you pass, and a name with no matching bookmark produces a link that goes nowhere when it’s clicked.

SetTarget calls Document.AddHyperlink internally, which appends a fresh relationship to the document part. Pointing twenty links at the same URL that way writes twenty relationships. Call Document.AddHyperlink once and pass the result to SetTargetByRef when a destination repeats.

Both link kinds survive native DOCX to PDF conversion. A URL target becomes a clickable external link, and a bookmark target becomes an internal link annotation whose destination is resolved by bookmark name at the point the bookmark start was laid out.

Run the example

The example writes hyperlink.docx with one link to google.com and one that jumps to a bookmark further up the same paragraph. addBlankLines is only there to push the two links apart.

git clone https://github.com/unidoc/unioffice-examples.git
cd unioffice-examples/document/hyperlink
go run main.go

If this is your first time using UniOffice, follow the getting started guide to create an API key and set up your development environment.

Sample output