When I paste a URL into Excel, it is automatically converted to the webpage's title. How do I switch this off?

Question

When pasting a URL from Edge into Excel 365 in Windows, it creates a hyperlink in the cell as expected, but it displays the web page's title rather than the actual text of the link. I have to use Edit Hyperlink and then transfer the URL text from the Address field to the Text to display field in order to get the result I want.

If I right-click and use Paste as text, the URL text is pasted, but it is not an active link.

This is not at all helpful, as I and the users of the document want to be able to see the URL itself and not someone else's idea of what it should be called, so is there a way to switch off this unnecessary and unwanted behaviour? If you're going to provide this sort of (annoyingly cosmetic) functionality, (a) give us a way to disable it and (b) don't make it the default.

Answer 1

Paste the link into the formula bar, not into the cell. Or edit the cell (press F2) before you paste.

Andreas.

Answer 2

Hi Andreas

Thanks for the tips. Both are useful as workarounds and I will probably use them if I remember to do so. However I do object to having to change my 30-year-old customary habits when using Excel simply to cope with an annoyance I didn't request and certainly don't need. Is there in fact a way to disable this feature, which was my original question?

Answer 3

Is there in fact a way to disable this feature, which was my original question?

No, you can not change the default behavior which data is pasted from all the different data in the clipboard and how Excel process that.

Andreas.