Having the ability to link from one document to another is a great tool, and if it is just for your use then you don’t need to have the file you are going to link to on a shared drive.  But if you are going to be sharing your main document with other people, they will also need access to the document that the main file will link to.  So make sure that the secondary file is located on a shared drive or network drive.

Make sure you have created the relevant bookmarks in your secondary document.

How to create hyperlinks in a Word 2011 document to a different file.

  1. Create a new document or open an existing document
  2. Go to the point in your document where you want to insert the hyperlink
  3. Type the word that will become the hyperlink and then double click to highlight or double click the word that will become the hyperlink
  4. Click Insert
  5. Click hyperlink

The insert hyperlink window will open up.

  1. Click the document button
  2. Create your screen tip by clicking the screen tip button
  3. Click the select button
  4. Your ‘my computer for Window users‘ or ‘Finder for Apple Mac users‘ will open
  5. Select the file you want to link to by double clicking
  6. Click okay

Congratulations you have now linked one document to another.