Hyperlink function problem

Hi! I'm hoping this will be very simple. I'm working on a database with
hundreds of contacts. Column A has the contact names, and Column B has their
URLs. I need the cells with the contact names to be linked to their
respective websites. Doing it the old-fashioned way, I could either left-
click the contact names and insert hyperlinks by copying and pasting the URLs
one at a time. Or I could left-click the URLs and edit hyperlinks, copying
and pasting the text to display one at a time. Obviously, I'd much rather
find a quicker way. I tried creating a macro, but it would only paste data
from the first cell onto all the other ones.

It seems that the HYPERLINK function would be perfect. I go to Column C,
apply the function, and it asks me to choose the hyperlink cell and the
"friendly text" cell. So I end up typing =HYPERLINK(A1,B1), and the result
in Column C appears to be exactly what I want. It has the contact name, and
when I hover over it, it indicates that it will link me to the URL. However,
that doesn't happen when I actually click on it. Instead, it gives me an
error of "cannot open the specified file," and the formula bar shows the
formula instead of the intended content. Sorry if this is a FAQ or in the
wrong board, but I'm new to asking for Excel help. Thanks in advance!

Bob

Figured it out after much more Googling! My URL cells did not contain the
"http://" in front of the web addresses. Once I added it, the newly created
links worked! Thanks!

Bob

otspbob wrote:
>Hi! I'm hoping this will be very simple. I'm working on a database with
>hundreds of contacts. Column A has the contact names, and Column B has their
>URLs. I need the cells with the contact names to be linked to their
>respective websites. Doing it the old-fashioned way, I could either left-
>click the contact names and insert hyperlinks by copying and pasting the URLs
>one at a time. Or I could left-click the URLs and edit hyperlinks, copying
>and pasting the text to display one at a time. Obviously, I'd much rather
>find a quicker way. I tried creating a macro, but it would only paste data
>from the first cell onto all the other ones.
>
>It seems that the HYPERLINK function would be perfect. I go to Column C,
>apply the function, and it asks me to choose the hyperlink cell and the
>"friendly text" cell. So I end up typing =HYPERLINK(A1,B1), and the result
>in Column C appears to be exactly what I want. It has the contact name, and
>when I hover over it, it indicates that it will link me to the URL. However,
>that doesn't happen when I actually click on it. Instead, it gives me an
>error of "cannot open the specified file," and the formula bar shows the
>formula instead of the intended content. Sorry if this is a FAQ or in the
>wrong board, but I'm new to asking for Excel help. Thanks in advance!
>
>Bob