\usepackage{hyperref}
Setting up hyperref
Add \usepackage{hyperref} to your preamble — ideally as the last package. Passing options inline configures link colours, PDF metadata, and bookmark behaviour all at once.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[
colorlinks = true,
linkcolor = blue,
urlcolor = cyan,
citecolor = green,
pdftitle = {My Document},
pdfauthor = {Author Name},
pdfsubject = {LaTeX tutorial},
bookmarks = true,
bookmarksnumbered = true,
]{hyperref}
\begin{document}
\tableofcontents
\section{Introduction}
\label{sec:intro}
This section is clickable in both the PDF bookmark panel
and the table of contents.
\section{Links}
\label{sec:links}
See \href{https://formatex.io}{FormaTeX} for live compilation.
Internal link back to Section~\ref{sec:intro}.
\end{document}\section{Link commands}
\href, \url, and \hyperref
hyperref provides four main commands for creating links. Each has a distinct purpose — choose the right one for cleaner, more semantic source code.
\href{url}{text}
External or internal URL with custom visible anchor text. The text is what readers see; the URL is the destination.
\url{url}
Renders a URL as-is in monospaced font and makes it clickable. Best for raw addresses in footnotes or references.
\hyperref[label]{text}
Internal cross-reference using a \label. Jumps to the labelled element with custom link text — no URL required.
\autoref{label}
Like \ref but automatically prepends the type name (Section, Figure, Table …) based on the environment.
\section{Usage examples}
All four commands in action
The example below shows \href, \url, \hyperref, and a mailto link side by side with minimal preamble.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\begin{document}
% \href{url}{text} — URL with custom anchor text
Visit \href{https://formatex.io}{FormaTeX} for online compilation.
% \url{url} — raw URL, displayed and linked as-is
Package docs: \url{https://ctan.org/pkg/hyperref}.
% \hyperref[label]{text} — internal cross-reference with custom text
\hyperref[sec:results]{Jump to the Results section}.
% Email address link
Questions? \href{mailto:[email protected]}{Send us an email}.
% Footnote URL (keeps text clean)
Documented elsewhere.\footnote{\url{https://example.com/docs}}
\section{Results}
\label{sec:results}
Data analysis and findings.
\end{document}\section{Colored links}
Configuring link colors
With colorlinks=true each link type gets its own color key. You can pass any named color from the xcolor package, including custom RGB definitions.
Internal links — \ref, \autoref, TOC entries
External URLs — \href and \url
Citation links — \cite
File links — \href{run:file.pdf}{...}
Acrobat menu links (rare)
Anchor text (rarely customised)
Print-ready output
For documents intended for print, pass hidelinks to suppress all colours and borders while keeping links functional in digital PDFs.
\section{PDF bookmarks}
PDF bookmarks and TOC links
hyperref automatically converts every \section, \subsection, and \caption into a clickable PDF bookmark. The table of contents entries become internal hyperlinks at no extra cost.
bookmarks=true
Generates the PDF bookmark panel (outline). Enabled by default in most hyperref configurations.
bookmarksnumbered=true
Prefixes each bookmark with its section number — keeps the panel consistent with the printed TOC.
pdftitle & pdfauthor
Populate the document metadata shown in PDF viewers and used by search engines for PDF indexing.
\section{Common pitfalls}
Avoid these mistakes
Load hyperref last
hyperref redefines many internal LaTeX commands. Load it after all other packages to avoid conflicts — only cleveref and a few others should follow it.
Special characters in URLs
Characters like %, #, and & are special in LaTeX. Inside \url{} they are handled automatically; inside \href{} you must percent-encode them in the URL argument.
Colored boxes vs colored text
The default hyperref style draws a colored box around links (colorlinks=false). Set colorlinks=true to color only the text — this looks better in print and digital documents.
hyperref and footnotes
Using \footnote{\href{...}{...}} is fine. Avoid \href inside \section{} titles unless you also pass hidelinks to suppress the colored bookmark entry.
\section{FAQ}
Frequently asked questions
\section{Related guides}
Keep learning LaTeX
Explore more guides and try every example live in the FormaTeX playground.