Sharepoint 2010 : Use the Text Editing Control in a Page (part 1) - Add a Hyperlink

To edit text in a text editing control, simply click anywhere in the control. When you do that, the ribbon switches to the Editing Tools ribbon, with the subribbon Format Text selected, allowing you to format the text as required (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. The Format Text subribbon of the Editing Tools ribbon allows you to set formatting for the text in a text editing control.

You use the ribbon and control as you would use any word processor; for example, to make part of the text bold, highlight it and click the Bold button (labeled B).

Add a Hyperlink

To add a hyperlink to text, highlight the part of the text that you want to make a hyperlink and switch to the Insert subribbon of the Editing Tools ribbon, as shown in Figure 2. In this ribbon, you can either click the Link button or open the menu under it to reveal the From SharePoint and the From Address options, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. The Link button’s menu.

Selecting the From SharePoint option or just clicking the Link button opens a dialog that enables you to choose where the hyperlink will link to (see Figure 3). In this dialog, you are presented with the content in the current site, and you can navigate to content in subsites. You can double-click any site, list, or library to view what is in it, or click a site, a list, a library, or the items in them to add the link to the selected item to the Location box at the bottom of the dialog. Click OK to close the dialog, and the link is added to the text.

Figure 3. The dialog for adding a hyperlink from SharePoint.

Selecting the From Address option shows a much simpler dialog that asks you for the text to display for the link and the address that the user will be directed to when clicking on it (see Figure 4).

After you have added the link, clicking on it in the text editing control allows you to switch to the Link Tools ribbon (see Figure 5). Here you can either remove the link or edit its properties (including the description that is shown when a user hovers over the link). You can also configure how it should behave, such as whether it should open in a new tab (or a new window) and whether it should show an icon next to the text to further signify that this is a link. You can change the icon’s image later (see the following section for information about changing existing pictures).

Figure 5. Editing a link using the Link Tools ribbon.