Hyperlinks and Bookmarks in Word Documents

Jan 16, 2026
5 minutes to read

Hyperlinks

The HyperlinkCollection contains all document hyperlinks. Use the SubDocument.Hyperlinks property to access a specific hyperlink by its index. Call the ReadOnlyHyperlinkCollection.Get method to retrieve the hyperlink related to the specified range.

Create a Hyperlink

Call the HyperlinkCollection.Create method to create a new Hyperlink.

The code snippet below finds a specific range in the document and converts it to a hyperlink with the specified URI and tooltip:

csharp

using DevExpress.XtraRichEdit;
using DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.API.Native;

using (var wordProcessor = new RichEditDocumentServer())
{
  wordProcessor.LoadDocument("Documents//Document.docx");
  Document document = wordProcessor.Document;

  // Find a specific text string
  DocumentRange[] foundRanges =
          document.FindAll("DevExpress WinForms Rich Text Editor",
  SearchOptions.CaseSensitive);

  if (foundRanges.Length > 0)
  {
      // Convert the found range to a hyperlink
      Hyperlink hyperlink = document.Hyperlinks.Create(foundRanges[0]);

      // Specify the URI and the tooltip
      hyperlink.NavigateUri =
           "https://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/Controls/WinForms/Rich_Editor/";
      hyperlink.ToolTip = "WinForms Rich Text Editor";
  }
}

Imports DevExpress.XtraRichEdit
Imports DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.API.Native

Using wordProcessor = New RichEditDocumentServer()
  wordProcessor.LoadDocument("Documents//Document.docx")
  Dim document As Document = wordProcessor.Document

  ' Find a specific text string
  Dim foundRanges() As DocumentRange =
       document.FindAll("DevExpress WinForms Rich Text Editor", SearchOptions.CaseSensitive)

  If foundRanges.Length > 0 Then
      ' Convert the found range to a hyperlink
      Dim hyperlink As Hyperlink = document.Hyperlinks.Create(foundRanges(0))

      ' Specify the URI and the tooltip
      hyperlink.NavigateUri =
           "https://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/Controls/WinForms/Rich_Editor/"
      hyperlink.ToolTip = "WinForms Rich Text Editor"
  End If
End Using

You can use the Create method to convert static URIs to hyperlinks. Refer to the following article for a code sample: How to: Convert a Static URI to a Hyperlink

Refer to the following article for information on how to create shape hyperlinks: Add Hyperlinks to Shapes

Note

The HYPERLINK field defines hyperlinks in RichEditDocumentServer, therefore the DocumentCapabilitiesOptions.Fields property affects the hyperlink loading process when importing the document. Set the RichEditControlCompatibility.LoadHyperlinkAsField property to false before the InitializeComponent method call to correct this behavior and allow the control to load hyperlinks when field loading is disabled.

Remove a Hyperlink

Call the HyperlinkCollection.Remove to delete the hyperlink. The HyperlinkCollection.RemoveAt method deletes the hyperlink at the specified index in the collection.

The code sample below locates and removes all hyperlinks in the first section:

C#
VB.NET

csharp

using DevExpress.XtraRichEdit;
using DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.API.Native;

using (var wordProcessor = new RichEditDocumentServer())
{
    // Load a document
    wordProcessor.LoadDocument("Documents//Document.docx");
    Document document = wordProcessor.Document;

    // Obtain all hyperlinks in the first section
    var hyperlinks = document.Hyperlinks.Get(document.Sections[0].Range);
    if (hyperlinks != null)
    {
        // Remove all hyperlinks
        foreach (Hyperlink hyperlink in hyperlinks)
        {
            document.Hyperlinks.Remove(hyperlink);
        }
    }
}

Imports DevExpress.XtraRichEdit
Imports DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.API.Native

Using wordProcessor = New RichEditDocumentServer()
    ' Load a document
    wordProcessor.LoadDocument("Documents//Document.docx")
    Dim document As Document = wordProcessor.Document

    ' Obtain all hyperlinks in the first section
    Dim hyperlinks = document.Hyperlinks.Get(document.Sections(0).Range)
    If hyperlinks IsNot Nothing Then
        ' Remove all hyperlinks
        For Each hyperlink As Hyperlink In hyperlinks
            document.Hyperlinks.Remove(hyperlink)
        Next hyperlink
    End If
End Using

Bookmarks

The BookmarkCollection contains all document bookmarks. Use the SubDocument.Bookmarks property to access a specific bookmark by its index. Call the ReadOnlyBookmarkCollection.Get method to retrieve the bookmark related to the specified range.

Create a Bookmark

The following code snippet creates a Bookmark and a hyperlink associated with this bookmark:

csharp

using DevExpress.XtraRichEdit;
using DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.API.Native;

using (var wordProcessor = new RichEditDocumentServer())
{
    wordProcessor.LoadDocument("Documents//Document.docx");
    Document document = wordProcessor.Document;

    // Create a bookmark at the document start
    DocumentRange start = document.CreateRange(document.Range.Start, 1);
    document.Bookmarks.Create(start, "Top");

    // Insert the hyperlink anchored to the created bookmark
    DocumentRange[] foundRanges = document.FindAll("To the Top", SearchOptions.CaseSensitive);
    if (foundRanges.Length > 0)
    {
        Hyperlink hyperlink = document.Hyperlinks.Create(foundRanges[0]);
        hyperlink.Anchor = "Top";
    }
}

Imports DevExpress.XtraRichEdit
Imports DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.API.Native

Using wordProcessor = New RichEditDocumentServer()
    wordProcessor.LoadDocument("Documents//Document.docx")
    Dim document As Document = wordProcessor.Document

    ' Create a bookmark at the document start
    Dim start As DocumentRange = document.CreateRange(document.Range.Start, 1)
    document.Bookmarks.Create(start, "Top")

    ' Insert the hyperlink anchored to the created bookmark
    Dim foundRanges() As DocumentRange = document.FindAll("To the Top", SearchOptions.CaseSensitive)
    If foundRanges.Length > 0 Then
        Dim hyperlink As Hyperlink = document.Hyperlinks.Create(foundRanges(0))
        hyperlink.Anchor = "Top"
    End If
End Using

Note

If a new bookmark’s name matches an existing one, an InvalidOperationException exception is thrown. Use the BookmarkOptions.ConflictNameResolution property to process bookmarks with duplicate names.

Export Bookmarks to the PDF format

You can specify what bookmarks can be displayed in the Bookmarks panel when you export the document to PDF format. Set the BookmarkOptions.DisplayBookmarksInPdfNavigationPane property to one of the PdfBookmarkDisplayMode enumeration values, as shown below:

C#
VB.NET

csharp

using DevExpress.XtraRichEdit;

using (var wordProcessor = new RichEditDocumentServer())
{
    //...
    BookmarkOptions bookmarkOptions = wordProcessor.Options.Bookmarks;
    bookmarkOptions.DisplayBookmarksInPdfNavigationPane =
         PdfBookmarkDisplayMode.TocBookmarks;
}

Imports DevExpress.XtraRichEdit

Using wordProcessor = New RichEditDocumentServer()
    '...
    Dim bookmarkOptions As BookmarkOptions = wordProcessor.Options.Bookmarks
    bookmarkOptions.DisplayBookmarksInPdfNavigationPane =
         PdfBookmarkDisplayMode.TocBookmarks
End Using

Use the DisplayUnreferencedPdfBookmarks property to determine whether to show bookmarks without references (that is, without hyperlinks anchored to these bookmarks) in the Bookmarks navigation pane. The DisplayBookmarksInPdfNavigationPane property set PdfBookmarkDisplayMode.None controls the unreferenced bookmarks when the DisplayUnreferencedPdfBookmarks property is set to true.

Note

Bookmark visibility options (Visibility and Color) do not affect documents that you export or print from the RichEditDocumentServer. You must specify these properties in the Rich Text Editor or other word processing applications to show the bookmark.

Remove a Bookmark

Utilize the BookmarkCollection.Remove method to delete the bookmark.

The code sample below shows how to locate and remove bookmarks in the 6th paragraph:

C#
VB.NET

csharp

using DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.API.Native;

using (var wordProcessor = new RichEditDocumentServer())
{
  wordProcessor.LoadDocument("Documents//Document.docx");
  Document document = wordProcessor.Document;

  var bookmarks =
     document.Bookmarks.Get(document.Paragraphs[5].Range);
  if (bookmarks != null)
  {
      foreach (Bookmark bookmark in bookmarks)
      {
        document.Bookmarks.Remove(bookmark);
      }
  }
}

Imports DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.API.Native

Using wordProcessor As New RichEditDocumentServer()
  Dim document As Document = wordProcessor.Document
  Dim bookmarks = document.Bookmarks.Get(document.Paragraphs(5).Range)
  If bookmarks IsNot Nothing Then
    For Each bookmark As Bookmark In bookmarks
        document.Bookmarks.Remove(bookmark)
    Next bookmark
  End If
End Using