Skip to main content
If you want clickable links in a LaTeX PDF, load the hyperref package. It handles external URLs, internal cross-references, bookmarks, PDF metadata, and table-of-contents links.
Quick answer: add \usepackage{hyperref} near the end of your preamble, then use \url{...} for plain links, \href{url}{text} for custom link text, and \label with \ref or \autoref for internal links.

​
Minimal Setup

hyperref-setup.tex
\usepackage[colorlinks=true,linkcolor=blue,citecolor=teal,urlcolor=magenta]{hyperref}
\hypersetup{
  pdftitle={Project Title},
  pdfauthor={Your Name},
  pdfsubject={Technical Report}
}
Load hyperref after most other packages so it can patch references correctly. Use \url when you want to print the URL itself, and use \href when you want custom anchor text.
external-links.tex
\url{https://www.latex-cloud-studio.com}
\href{https://www.overleaf.com/learn}{Overleaf Learn}
\href{mailto:team@example.com}{Email the team}
Internal links usually come from labels and references:
internal-links.tex
\section{Methods}\label{sec:methods}
\section{Results}\label{sec:results}

See Section~\ref{sec:methods}.
Use \autoref{sec:results} for automatic label text.
If hyperref is loaded, these references become clickable in the final PDF. For unnumbered sections, add a manual anchor before writing the label:
phantomsection.tex
\section*{Appendix Resources}
\phantomsection
\addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Appendix Resources}
\label{sec:appendix-resources}
This ensures the PDF link points to the right place.

​
Common hyperref Problems

  • Links are not clickable: make sure hyperref is loaded.
  • Colors look wrong: set colorlinks=true and choose explicit linkcolor, citecolor, and urlcolor.
  • Link jumps to the wrong spot: use \phantomsection before the label for unnumbered headings.
  • Package conflicts: load hyperref late in the preamble unless another package says otherwise.