How to Create a Hyperlink or Picture Column in SharePoint
Sometimes a column needs to point at a URL — a related website, a reference document, or display an image. Hyperlink/Picture columns handle both.
What it is
A Hyperlink column stores a URL plus a display name. Users see the friendly text (‘Project SharePoint Site’ or ‘ISO 9001 Standard’) and clicking takes them to the underlying URL. A Picture column stores an image URL and renders the image directly in the view — useful for product galleries, asset catalogues, or anywhere visual identification helps.
Hyperlink columns are great for external references: a related Confluence page, a regulator’s site, a training video on Stream, a Microsoft Learn article. They’re also useful for cross-library navigation — a ‘Related project site’ link on every project document, for example.
Picture columns are less common but powerful where they fit. A products library can show actual product images. A people register can show photos. An assets register can show equipment photos. The visual reinforcement makes browsing much faster than reading filenames.
When to use this
- For links to external regulations, training, reference websites.
- For cross-library navigation (related sites, related libraries).
- For product, asset, or people registers where images aid identification.
- Anywhere a URL or image is genuinely part of the file’s metadata.
How to do it
- Click + Add column → Hyperlink or Picture.
- Choose Hyperlink (URL with display text) or Picture (image rendered in views).
- Save the column.
- On each item, enter the URL plus a friendly display name (or image URL).
- For tile views, Picture columns make excellent visual identifiers.
Best practices
- Use display names, not raw URLs. ‘ISO 27001 Standard’ is more readable than ‘https://www.iso.org/standard/…’.
- Verify URLs periodically. External links rot. Set up a quarterly check.
- Picture columns work best in Tile View. Lists with pictures look better with tiles than with rows.
- Don’t use for primary linking — use built-in Sharing instead. Hyperlink columns aren’t replacements for SharePoint links.
Common mistakes
- Storing internal SharePoint links in Hyperlink columns. Use Lookup or built-in linking — Hyperlink is for external URLs.
- Display names that don’t match the URL. Confuses users when the link goes somewhere different from what’s labelled.
- Picture URLs that break. If the source image moves, the column shows a broken image. Test stability.
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What is a Hyperlink or Picture column in SharePoint?
It’s a column that stores either a URL with a display name (a clickable link in the library view) or an image URL (the image renders inline). Useful for linking files to external resources — project portals, client websites, vendor pages — or showing visual thumbnails of file content in asset libraries.
What’s the difference between Hyperlink and Picture mode?
Hyperlink mode shows the URL as a clickable text link (you provide both the URL and the display text). Picture mode renders the image inline — switch the library to Tiles view to see a gallery-style display. Use Hyperlink for navigation; use Picture for visual content like product catalogs or asset registers.
Why aren’t my pictures showing in a SharePoint Picture column?
Three common reasons: the URL needs to be a direct image URL ending in .jpg, .png, .gif, etc. (not a webpage that contains an image); the URL needs to be publicly accessible (or accessible to all users who view the library); and the library needs to be in Tiles view to display the picture inline — List View shows only the URL.
How do I deal with broken hyperlinks in a SharePoint column?
SharePoint doesn’t detect broken links automatically. Build a Power Automate flow that runs monthly, iterates through items, tests each URL with an HTTP GET, and flags broken links by setting a Yes/No ‘Link broken’ column or sending the owner an email. For business-critical links, prefer Lookup columns to internal SharePoint content where stability is higher.