How To Create A Hyperlink On Google Docs

Links are an important part of the websites you visit. It makes it easy for you to find related information by simply clicking the link. But you might be wondering how to add a link to a picture in Google Docs so your readers can do something similar.

Documents that you create in word processing applications like Microsoft Word and Google Docs are often improved with the addition of other objects.

Whether it's a picture or a chart, sometimes things other than text are beneficial to a document.

But you might have a picture in your document that you would like others to click in order to visit a Web page and read additional relevant information.

Fortunately, you can hyperlink an image in Google Docs to achieve this result.

How to Add a Link to an Image in Google Docs

Open the document.
Select the picture.
Click Insert.
Choose Link.
Type the Web page address, then click Apply.

Continue reading below for additional information on adding links to pictures in Google Docs, including pictures for these steps.

How to Hyperlink an Image in Google Docs (Guide with Pictures)

The steps in this article were performed in the desktop version of the Google Chrome Web browser, but will work in other desktop browsers like Firefox or Safari as well.

Step 1: Sign into you Google Drive and open the document to edit.

Step 2: Find the picture to link, then click on it to select it.

Step 3: Click the Insert tab at the top of the window.

Step 4: Choose the Link option from the bottom of the drop down menu.

Step 5: Type the Web page address (or paste it from an open tab with the Web page), then click the Apply button.

how to add a link to a picture in Google Docs

You can copy a Web page address by selecting the address at the top of a browser tab, then pressing Ctrl + C (Windows) or Command + C (Mac.)

If you click on the picture you will then see a little pop-up box that you can click to visit the linked Web page.

There is also a keyboard shortcut that you can use to link a Google Docs image when it's selected. Simply select the picture, then press Ctrl + K (Windows) or Command + K (Mac) to bring up the hyperlink window.

Alternatively, you could right-click on the picture, then choose the Link option from the shortcut menu that appears.

Can You Hyperlink an Image in Google Docs?

As we have discussed in the sections above, it is a short process to add a hyperlink to an image that you have added inline as part of your Google Docs document.

Once the image has been added to the document from the Insert menu you can click on the image to select it, then go to Insert > Link and add the hyperlink.

When you click on the picture in the document a pop up will appear below the picture with the link, which you can then click to visit the URL that you added as a hyperlink.

More Information on How to Add a Link to a Picture in Google Docs

The different Google Apps all have their own way of adding links to pictures. For example, you can add a hyperlink to an image in Google Sheets, but you need to do it with a formula rather than selecting an image and adding a link to it. That formula is:

                      =HYPERLINK("https://www.supportyourtech.com"; IMAGE("your-image-url-here"))

If you have trouble with the code above then it's probably the quotation marks. If you copied and pasted the code above then you might need to delete the quotation marks around both of those URLs type them manually.

Then you would just need to replace our site URL with the one that you want to link to. So the Google Sheets "add link to image" process is a bit more complicated, but it is possible.

If you want to add a link to a photo in Google Slides then you simply need to select the picture in the slide to which you wish to add a link. Then you click Insert at the top of the window, choose the Link option, enter the link into the field, then click Apply. So, luckily, learning how to add a link to a picture in Google Slides is a bit simpler than Google Sheets.

Since you add a link to an image in Google Docs and it can effectively be a link to any file or page on the Internet, then you can use the same method if you want to add a link to an image in Google Docs, too. For example, if you have text that is talking about the Mona Lisa, then you may wish to locate an image of the painting on the Louvre's website and add that link to your text. Then when people click the link they will see the image.

In Google Chrome you can find a link for an image by right-clicking the picture, then choosing the Copy image address option.

If you have a website that you have created in a content management system like WordPress or Google Sites and you want to link to a Web address on that site, then it's best to open the site in a private or incognito tab so that you ensure you are getting the correct URL for the Web page.

If you are adding a link to a file in your Google Drive and that link will be accessible by other people then you will need to ensure that it can be accessed by others. A quick way to do this is to find the file in Google Drive, right click it, then choose the Get link option. There you will be able to change the access settings to anyone with the link.

One other way that you can add a link to text or images in Google Docs is to select the text or image, then right-click it and select Link.

Changing the text wrapping settings for an image in your document could affect your ability to add a hyperlink to your image in Google Docs. For example, you may not be able to add a link if you are using the "wrap text" or "break text" setting for the image. If you are intending to hyperlink an image in a Google doc then you will need to use the "In line' option for the image.

Additional reading

How to change margins in Google Docs
How to select all in Google Docs
How to clear formatting in Google Docs
How to change a link in Google Docs
How to make Google Docs landscape

Matt Jacobs has been working as an IT consultant for small businesses since receiving his Master's degree in 2003. While he still does some consulting work, his primary focus now is on creating technology support content for SupportYourTech.com.

His work can be found on many websites and focuses on topics such as Microsoft Office, Apple devices, Android devices, Photoshop and more.