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BrittaEve
Participant
February 12, 2026
Answered

Indesign – Changing display text for hyperlink is removing / deleting the hyperlink.

  • February 12, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 79 views

Changing display text for hyperlink is removing / deleting the hyperlink.

Manually typed in footnotes. I highlighted the text “10” > right clicked > New Hyperlink > Put in URL (for this example dribbble.com). Went back into the doc realized “10” needed to be “20” highlighted my hyperlink and typed in “20” > Hyperlink is suddenly gone. And it’s happening with every hyperlink I’ve changed the display text on. I’ve never had this issue before. 

I’ve also done full resets of everything and I am running the latest update. Screenshots in order of process. help.  

Correct answer Abhishek Rao

Hi ​@BrittaEve,

 

Thank you for your patience while I checked this with the product team.

The team has confirmed that the behavior you’re seeing is working as designed. In InDesign, a hyperlink is tied to the exact text range that was originally selected when the hyperlink was created. The hyperlink marker starts at the first character of the selection and ends at the last character. If the entire selected text is deleted and replaced with new text, the hyperlink marker is removed as well, which is why the hyperlink disappears from the Hyperlinks panel.

Because of this, replacing the whole display text of a hyperlink will remove the link association. If you need to update the number or text, you can edit the characters without deleting the entire selection. For example, modify the existing characters or replace them partially rather than removing the whole linked text at once. This keeps the hyperlink marker intact.

Let me know if this clarifies the behavior for you or if you have any follow-up questions.

Happy to help further.

Abhishek

2 replies

Abhishek Rao
Community Manager
Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
Community Manager
February 12, 2026

Hi ​@BrittaEve,

 

Thanks for reaching out and sharing the details. I’m currently checking this behavior with the product team to understand whether this is working as designed or if it needs further review. Once I have an update, I’ll be sure to share it with you here.

In the meantime, please feel free to let me know if you notice anything else related to this. I’ll keep you posted.

 

Best,
Abhishek

Abhishek Rao
Community Manager
Abhishek RaoCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
Community Manager
March 10, 2026

Hi ​@BrittaEve,

 

Thank you for your patience while I checked this with the product team.

The team has confirmed that the behavior you’re seeing is working as designed. In InDesign, a hyperlink is tied to the exact text range that was originally selected when the hyperlink was created. The hyperlink marker starts at the first character of the selection and ends at the last character. If the entire selected text is deleted and replaced with new text, the hyperlink marker is removed as well, which is why the hyperlink disappears from the Hyperlinks panel.

Because of this, replacing the whole display text of a hyperlink will remove the link association. If you need to update the number or text, you can edit the characters without deleting the entire selection. For example, modify the existing characters or replace them partially rather than removing the whole linked text at once. This keeps the hyperlink marker intact.

Let me know if this clarifies the behavior for you or if you have any follow-up questions.

Happy to help further.

Abhishek

leo.r
Community Expert
leo.rCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 12, 2026

Yes, I can reproduce it in both InDesign 2026 and 2025 (if you change the entire display text of a hyperlink, the hyperlink disappears).

 

Frankly, I don’t know if it’s a bug or if there’s a reason for this behavior.

 

You can avoid it by doing the following workaround:

 

Say you want to change “10” to “20”:

 

-Type “20” in the middle of “10”: 1200

-Delete the last zero, delete the first 1.

 

Hyperlink will be preserved.

 

It’s possible there are other ways to deal with it that I’m not aware of.

 

 

 

    leo.r
    Community Expert
    leo.rCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 12, 2026

    p.s. actually, you can perform a shorter trickery by just typing 2 in the middle: “120”. then delete “1”.

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