Links and bookmarks in Write by Zaweba documents

Long documents are easier to use when readers can jump straight to the part they need. Short ones are more useful when a web address can be clicked rather than copied out by hand. Write by Zaweba has both kinds of link: hyperlinks to web addresses and links to bookmarks placed inside the document.

Adding a hyperlink

Select the words you want to turn into a link and press Ctrl+K, then enter the address. The text becomes a hyperlink. To follow it while editing, hold Ctrl and click. A plain click just puts the cursor in the text, so you can edit a link's wording without being sent off to a web browser.

Choose the linked words with care. "Booking form on the club website" tells a reader where they are going, while a bare "click here" tells them nothing, especially once the document is printed and the link can't be clicked at all. On paper, it is worth including the address itself in the text for anything people must be able to find.

Bookmarks inside the document

A bookmark marks a place in the text with a name. Insert > Bookmark lets you add one, jump to an existing one and delete those you no longer need.

Bookmarks are useful on their own as signposts in a long document. Mark the section you are working on, or the table you keep coming back to, and jump straight there instead of scrolling.

They become more powerful with links. A hyperlink whose address is a hash sign followed by a bookmark's name goes to that bookmark. That gives you cross-references that work: "see the budget table" can take the reader directly to the budget table, wherever it is.

Good uses for links

Club and community documents often point to websites for forms, maps or event details. Make the linked words say where they lead, so the meaning survives even on paper.

Reports and handbooks benefit from internal links. A summary at the start can link to each detailed section, and an appendix can link back to the part of the report it supports.

CVs can include a link to an online portfolio or a professional profile. Keep the visible text tidy and make sure the link works before you send it.

Links and the contents page

You don't need bookmarks to make a clickable contents page. Insert > Table of contents creates one entry for each heading, and every entry is already a link to its heading. Bookmarks are for the places that aren't headings: a particular table, a figure, a paragraph of terms.

The navigation pane, which lists headings, gives you quick jumping while you edit. Bookmarks and links help your readers do the same once the document leaves your hands.

Keeping links healthy

Web addresses change. Before sending or exporting a final copy, Ctrl+click each link to check it still goes where you expect. For internal links, check that the bookmark still exists: if you delete the text that held a bookmark, the link has nowhere to go.

Give bookmarks short, clear names that describe the place, such as budget or contacts, so you can recognise them in the list later. When the document is saved as .docx, links and bookmarks travel with it, so readers using other word processors can follow them too.