Disable Excel link cell follow click [duplicate]

In Word I can use Ctrl+Click on the rare occasion that I want to follow a link rather than, you know, do the editing that Word is actually for.

Is there some way to get similar behaviour in Excel 2010, 2003, 2013?

I am sick of accidentally switching to IE or Outlook every time I try and select a cell that has a hyperlink attached.

Results of my prior research here on SuperUser and via popular search engines have not been very fruitful (e.g. http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-excel/archive/2011/04/12/hyperlinks-in-excel-hot-or-not.aspx) I am not interested in hearing how I can click and hold to select the cell, or run VBscript or Macros to strip all hyperlinks from a workbook. I want something that conforms with the UI I expect from a non browser application and applies to documents other people have created.

In Excel 2013, whitespace clicking will select the cell without following the URL, but you have to pay attention. If the icon changes to the hand icon on mouseover, it will follow the URL. If the icon changes to the big white cross, it will select the cell without following the URL. Changing row height or column width can help to increase the amount of whitespace.

Still, I wish that MS had thought to make URL clicks act the same in Excel 2013 as in Word 2013, because it is an annoyance.

"There is no such thing as a foolproof system. Someone will make a better fool, tomorrow." @LoneWolffe

I found that you can click the cell and hold the mouse button down for about one second. After that the cursor turns into the usual cross, as depicted below:

This works in Excel 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016. If it works in 2003 or Office 365, please update my answer. =)

What I have found (on Excel 2010 for Mac, at least) is that you can right click then left click the cell. That leaves you with the cell selected but does not follow the link. It becomes like a single motion and is not too annoying.

Just go to Excel options->"proofing"-> "autocorrect options"-> "autoformat as you type" and uncheck the check box for "internet and network paths".

An alternative for IT security teams dealing with lot of IoCs is is to use autocorrection for "http" and auto-change as you type to "hxxp".In this way Excel will not create the hyperlink.

CK

How I do this: Set the hyperlink with the URL in the second portion:

=HYPERLINK("","http://example.com")

In the VBA Editor make a module:

Declare Function GetKeyState Lib "User32" (ByVal vKey As Integer) As Integer
Global Const CTRL_KEY = 17

Then the worksheet code:

Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)
    On Error GoTo Error1
    If Left(Target.Formula, 10) = "=HYPERLINK" Then
        If GetKeyState(CTRL_KEY) < 0 Then 'Check if CTRL is held in
            Application.EnableEvents = False
            ThisWorkbook.FollowHyperlink Mid(Target.Formula, 16, Len(Target.Formula) - 17)
            Application.EnableEvents = True
        End If
    End If

    Exit Sub

Error1:
    Application.EnableEvents = True

End Sub

To make it work, click on the cell, then CTRL+Click on the cell to visit the link. You could do other things like have text in the second portion of HYPERLINK then a SELECT CASE in the code, that opens a url based on the text. Other keystrokes are available as well:

Global Const SHIFT_KEY = 16
Global Const ALT_KEY = 18

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa243025(v=vs.60).aspx