If you write a long e-mail, sometimes it’s a nice idea to add jump links to help people navigate to the content that’s most relevant to them. Say, for example, you write an e-mail about the three things you did on holiday, you could add a jump link to take your reader straight to each of the three sections (eating, sleeping, and queuing at the airport). Think of it as an interactive list of contents, something that helps people find the bits they’re most interested in.
Jump links look really impressive, but adding them is a piece of cake in Outlook. Keep in mind that this only works when you compose your e-mail in HTML or Rich Text; hyperlinks are not supported in plain text. Here’s how:
- First, compose your email (in HTML or Rich Text mode)
- Now highlight the first point in your e-mail body copy where you would like to add a jump link (the place your reader will jump to)
- Now select Insert > Bookmark, type a memorable name for your bookmark (no spaces!), then click Add
- Repeat step 3 for each of the jump link destinations in your e-mail
- Now, go to the top of your e-mail body and type your list of jump links
- Highlight each jump link in turn and select Insert > Hyperlink, then click Place in this Document, then select the relevant Bookmark link and press OK. Repeat this step for each jump link.
- Now test your hyperlinks by CTRL+Clicking on each in turn to see where the cursor jumps to. If all is well, send your e-mail and wait for the recipients to reply asking how you learned to do such clever links!
For more on adding hyperlinks to Outlook e-mails, click here.