Q. (cont’d) Thank you! I use MS Word and am looking for a way to turn off the underline.
A. In the case of Word, here are some tips:
In any open or blank document go to Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options > AutoFormat As You Type and uncheck the box next to “Internet and network paths with hyperlinks.” Then click on the AutoFormat tab and uncheck the same box (i.e., the one next to “Internet and network paths with hyperlinks”).
This will prevent URL syntax from automatically becoming a link in any future work you do in that installation of Word, but it will not unlink those “live” links that are already in a document.
To unlink a URL in Word, right-click on it, and from the drop-down menu, choose “Remove Hyperlink” (which will remove the hyperlink attributes, making it regular text with the attributes of the surrounding text; it will not, as the nomenclature sort of implies, delete the hyperlinked text).
Or, in Word for Windows, you can select text that contains a hyperlink or several hyperlinks and type Ctrl+Shift+F9 (i.e., hold down Ctrl and Shift and the F9 key)—this should eliminate the field associated with the link, turning it into plain text. (On a Mac, try Command+6 or Command+Shift+F9.) In some documents you may also have to remove the hypertext character style, which can be done through the Home tab under Styles.