Google Sheets – Make All Cells in Column Links from Values

google sheetsgoogle-apps-script

I have a column of cells in a Google Spreadsheet with values such as:

512
2123
2342
3532

What I would like to do is convert all these into a hyperlink and keep the value as the link text:

http://www.example.com/id/{value}

…where {value} is the value of the cell. I know the format of a hyperlink in a Google spreadsheet but I don't want to do this manually every time I put in a number. I want a simple process that when I add a new row the contents of this column is turned into a link with the value I input.

I tried this:

=HYPERLINK(CONCATENATE("http://www.example.com/id/",A1);A1)

But I get:

error: Circular dependency detected

Best Answer

I wasn't able to reproduce your results. As a matter of fact, it worked perfectly.

enter image description here

What you tried to do is most probably the following:

In A1 you typed in =HYPERLINK(CONCATENATE("http://www.example.com/id/",A1);A1) and this yields an error of coarse.

Update

If you really want to get the result in A1, then you need to use a script.

Code

// global
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();

function onOpen() {
  var menu = [{name: "create URL", functionName: "createURL"}];
  ss.addMenu("URL", menu);
}

function onEdit(e) {
  var activeRange = e.source.getActiveRange();

  if(activeRange.getColumn() == 1) { 
    if(e.value != "") { 
      activeRange.setValue('=HYPERLINK("http://www.example.com/id/'+e.value+'","'+e.value+'")');
    }
  }
}

function createURL() {
  var aCell = ss.getActiveCell(), value = aCell.getValue();
  aCell.setValue('=HYPERLINK("http://www.example.com/id/'+value+'","'+value+'")');  
}

Explained:

The e.value will retrieve the cells value (only applicable a cell). The setValue() will add the concatenated string into the getActiveRange(). All is only executed when e.value contains something and the active range is in column A.

I've created an extra menu option as well, to be able access the script this way.

Example:

I've created an example file for you: onEdit URL builder
Add this script via Tools>Script editor, into the script editor. Press the "bug" button and you can use the script.

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