Accessible Excel spreadsheets

Link text should describe where the link is taking the user. Users should understand where they are going by the link text alone.

You should avoid:

• Linking to inaccessible or untrustworthy sites
• Sites where a user must pay or register to see the information
• Using images or icons as links

Good link text examples:

• 'How to create accessible content'
• 'Go to GOV.UK's coronavirus testing page'
• 'NHS guidance on COVID symptoms'
• 'What happens next when you contact us'

Bad link text examples:

• 'Click here' - it is too vague and not everyone can see where 'here' is
• 'Read this' - 'this' is not descriptive
• 'Learn more - 'more' is not descriptive

Internal links

If your spreadsheet is quite large, you might want to include internal links. These are links that take users to specific locations in your spreadsheet. It's important to make sure that your links take the user to the correct place:

• If you're linking to a sheet, make sure you link to cell A1 of that sheet
• If you're linking to a particular piece of content, like a table, make sure you link to the cell where that information starts. For example, the title of the table.

Resources

• Microsoft support explain how to add links to your spreadsheet