Microsoft Outlook makes it easy to manage your emails, but there is an error that commonly happens and is frustrating: the hyperlinks not working in Outlook. Here’s how to fix it on Windows 10 and Windows 11 (or basically any compatible Windows version).
When you try to open a link directly from Outlook, it will just not open and you don’t know what went wrong. Fortunately, this error is solvable using some practical solutions by managing the default browser and a registry tweak if necessary.
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How to fix the hyperlinks not working in Outlook
Reset the Internet Explorer settings
If you use Internet Explorer as the default browser and it fails to open a link from Outlook, you can try resetting Internet Explorer but at the cost of its current settings.
To do this, open the Internet Options dialog box by typing it on the search bar of the Start menu.
Go to the Advanced tab. Select Reset.
Here, select Reset. You are going to reset everything on the list.
Restart your PC. Once it’s turned on, try opening a hyperlink from Outlook.
Choose Microsoft Edge to open hyperlinks
Microsoft Edge might not be your choice to browse the web. But if you find a problem like the hyperlinks isn’t working, you might want to use it as the default browser to open hyperlinks.
Go to the Settings > Apps > Default apps. At the bottom, select Choose default apps by protocol.
Scroll down until you find HTTP and HTTPS. Make sure the default app for both is Microsoft Edge.
A registry tweak
If none of the above works to solve this hyperlink issue, you can try importing this particular registry key from a computer with no problem with hyperlinks to the computer with the hyperlink problem.
Now, on the computer that can still open hyperlinks from Outlook, open the Registry Editor by typing regedit on the Run dialog box, which you can open by pressing Windows+R.
Go to this address of a registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\htmlfile\shell\open\command
Export it by clicking File > Export. Save it with a unique name. Copy the registry file that you have saved to a flash drive or something so you can transfer it to the computer that has the hyperlink problem.
Now, on the computer with the hyperlink problem, open the registry file you have exported earlier by double-clicking it.
Here, you might see a warning. Select Yes to confirm.
After doing this, restart your computer, open the Registry Editor and go to this address:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \.html
See if (Default) has htmlfile value (you can see on the Data column).
If it doesn’t, change it to htmlfile by double-clicking it, enter htmlfile as Value data, and select OK to save it.
Restart your computer.
Fortunately, there are solutions to the hyperlink problem in Outlook. Hopefully, they solve it so you can open a hyperlink directly from Outlook.
RELATED: How to Recover Outlook Password
Dony Prasetiyo has been writing on monkeymanifesto.com for about two years, intended to help solve computer and smartphone problems with easy-to-understand blog posts. He has written over 480 blog posts about Windows, Office, Android, and more.
