How to Get the Email Address Behind a Link in Excel (mailto: Cells)
Excel and Google Sheets have no formula that returns the address inside a mailto: link, so the quickest route is to copy the linked cells and paste them into a tool that reads the clipboard. The extract email from hyperlink tool gives you the text each cell shows, the address in its link and a status, one row per cell.
Cells whose visible text and link disagree are flagged, which is where stale or wrong addresses hide.
Why the text and the address can differ
A sheet exported from a CRM or a website often shows a name, a job title or the word "Email" while the link holds the address. A sheet edited by hand may still show the old address after someone changed the link. For addresses typed as plain text in a cell, see extracting an email address from text in a cell instead.
The by-hand way
- Right-click a cell, choose Edit Link and copy the address from the dialog. Repeat for every row.
- In Excel desktop, add a short VBA function (the tool shows one under its result) and use
=LinkAddress(A2). It does not run in Excel for the web or Sheets, and the file must be saved as .xlsm. - If the links came from a HYPERLINK formula, use
=FORMULATEXT(A2)and read the address out of the text.
Method 1 is fine for five rows and painful for five hundred.
Step 1: copy the linked cells
Select them in Excel or Google Sheets and copy. The clipboard carries the links, not only the text.
Step 2: paste or upload
Click the paste box and paste. For a whole workbook, upload the .xlsx instead. Links made with Insert > Link and with HYPERLINK formulas are both read.
Step 3: read the status column
Each row shows the text, the address in the link and one of four statuses. If a link carries a subject or several recipients, every recipient is read and the rest is dropped. Copy the address column back into the sheet or download the CSV.
If the addresses are in plain text instead, use the email extractor or extract emails from Excel.
What this check cannot do
- A paste made as plain text has no links left to read.
- Old .xls files and links stored only in comments are not read.
- It cannot tell whether the mailbox still exists.
Next: check that the addresses still work
An address pulled from a link is only as fresh as the sheet. Run the address column through the verify page: the first 100 email checks are free with a Google sign-in, no card. Each comes back valid, risky or invalid with a reason, and nothing is sent to anyone on the list. For bigger files, see bulk email verification, list cleaning and pricing.
Try it now
Paste your linked cells into the extract email from hyperlink tool.
Common questions
Is there an Excel formula that returns the address in a hyperlink?
No. HYPERLINK makes links, but no worksheet function reads one back, and Google Sheets has none either. In Excel desktop a short VBA function can do it, saved in an .xlsm file.
What if the links were made with a HYPERLINK formula?
Then the address is in the formula text. FORMULATEXT(A2) shows it, and uploading the .xlsx to the tool reads it directly.
Why paste the cells instead of typing the text?
The visible text is often a name or the word Email, and the clipboard keeps the link as well as the text, so the tool can compare the two.
What do the statuses mean?
Each cell is marked as matches, differs, address only in the link, or no link.
Does it check that the mailbox exists?
No. It finds the address in the link only. Verify the addresses afterwards.
Check your list before you send
Real mailbox checks over SMTP, and nothing is sent to the address. Sign in with Google and your first 100 email checks are free, no card. Plans for bigger lists are on the pricing page.