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In the default (blank) MS Word document template, the Hyperlink style definition includes the attribute Font Color: Hyperlink. I have a particular Word document in which the Hyperlink style has been modified to include Font Color: Black, among other attributes. I want to restore the original "Hyperlink" color definition, but I cannot find a way to do so. In the Modify Style dialog, I can completely remove, for example, the explicit specification of a particular font face, changing it from Times New Roman to null, by drilling down through the Format combo-button at the bottom of the Modify Style dialog, then clearing the text from the combo-box, but I cannot do the same for font color with its color picker. Nor is there a text entry position in which I could attempt to type the word "Hyperlink" as a color name.
I could of course set it to Font Color: Blue, but that would force it to be blue for any user, even one who has set a different system color for hyperlinks on their machine (as does the current setting of Black). With the default setting (if I'm understanding correctly), the Hyperlink style, with its Font Color: Hyperlink parameter, will make hyperlinks display using the system-defined color - so if Bob has configured his computer to display links in hot pink, and Mary prefers burnt orange, they'll each see hyperlinks in that color when they open the document, while I see good ol' blue. This is what I would like to have happen.

Of course, I know I could just copy all of the text out of the document and paste it into a brand new document with all of the default styling, but is there any way to modify the style definition embedded into this existing document, so I can preserve all of the other elements defined for the style, and only revert the color?

Note: This is definitely not the same issue as Turning active hyperlinks back to blue, because in that question, the (unmodified) Hyperlink style was removed from the linked text and just needed to be reapplied. In my situation, the definition of the Hyperlink style has been changed - I can apply the style all day long and never get blue text.

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    Possible duplicate of Turning active hyperlinks back to blue
    – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007
    Oct 15, 2015 at 16:48
  • Nope. That question is about applying the Hyperlink style to existing links. In my scenario, the Hyperlink style is already applied where it should be, but the definition of the style has been changed, and I need to change it back.
    – Dan Henderson
    Oct 15, 2015 at 17:09

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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As far as I know there's no way to redefine it back to the hyperlink colourtheme colour using the Style Modify dialog. However here are two methods you can try.

VBA Method

Alt + F11 to open up VBA Window. Alt + G to open Immediate Window. Then run the following command in the Immediate Window:

ActiveDocument.Styles("Hyperlink").Font.TextColor.ObjectThemeColor = wdThemeColorHyperlink

Style painter method

You can use style painter to copy the formatting back and use that to update the Hyperlink style.

  1. Create a new document type some text, ensure it's formatted as Normal and then format it as hyperlink
  2. Select that text and press Ctrl + Shift + C (this will copy the formatting)
  3. In your target document type some new text to work with, format it as Normal and apply Hyperlink to it
  4. Select the new text and press Ctrl + Shift + P (this will paste the formatting)
  5. If it's not already visible open the Styles Window (Ctrl + Alt + Shift + S)
  6. Locate the Hyperlink style in the style window
  7. Make sure your hyperlink formatted text is still selected
  8. Hover over it and then click the drop down menu and select "Update Hyperlink to Match Selection"
  9. Delete the working text you added in step 3

You should now have the hyperlink text back to it's defaults. Check the other Hyperlink text in your document. If you had any other modifications to the Hyperlink style you can now re-apply those.

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  • I actually tried using the Style Painter/Update Style method, but got some fairly unexpected results... First, when I pasted the style, it actually changed both the font and the color to something completely different from both the original and the source, and also removed the underline. Pasting the style on the same text a second time worked though. But then when I did "Update Hyperlink to Match Selection", it did alter the Hyperlink Style, but it also again changed the font of the text to yet another seemingly random font. I will try the VBA method though, it looks like that should work.
    – Dan Henderson
    Jun 12, 2015 at 4:37
  • Yeah style painter is notoriously horrible. It might have been worth ensuring the underlying style for both the source/target paragraph was set to Normal with no other formatting other than Hyperlink on it. But other things could still go wrong. I should probably make the VBA method the first in this answer.
    – snoopen
    Jun 12, 2015 at 4:58
  • Sorry for "abandoning" this question - between competing assignments and the passage of time, I lost track of which document this happened in, and so I haven't had the chance to go back, find it again, and apply this fix. But, having some familiarity with VBA and Office, I'm confident enough that this will do exactly what I need, that I'm accepting your answer on the benefit of the doubt.
    – Dan Henderson
    Jul 23, 2015 at 20:18
  • Since I've already upvoted and accepted your answer, I can't do more than that, but I thought you might be interested to know that I finally had this come up again and I used your VBA solution, which worked perfectly. One small note, though, the keyboard shortcut for the VBA window is Alt-F11, not Alt-F12. Since I can't make an edit suggestion for a single character, you'll have to make that edit as the post author.
    – Dan Henderson
    Feb 3, 2017 at 16:52
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    Glad to hear it worked for you! Thanks for pointing out my error, I've fixed the keyboard shortcut.
    – snoopen
    Feb 3, 2017 at 20:38

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