Tired of your words and letters turning into links when least you expect it? Annoyed by the doings of an automatic formatter (with font weight, color and an underlining brush) that even undoing will not fix? Find out here how to prevent text from turning into a link ⤓ in any software and application on any platform using Unicode.
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How to Keep Text from Becoming a Clickable Link (Unicode Trick)
Time needed: 1 minute
To prevent software from turning text of the pattern <□□□□□>.<□□> into a clickable and underlined link:
- Type the domain name up to and include the final dot.
Example: To insert ladedu.com without it turning into a link, start with
ladedu.. - Insert a zero-width joiner or zero-width non-breaking space.
Here’s how: Copy either character using the table below, then past it following the dot.
Here’s why: These invisible characters (should) have no affect on the display of the text, but interfere with the pattern used in the program to recognize URLs (typically a domain name followed by a dot and a top-level domain).
Here’s which: Both characters should work; do experiment with the zero-width non-breaking space first.
Example:ladedu.<zero-width non-breaking space>. - Complete the domain name with the top-level domain.
Example:
ladedu.com.
Finally no underline, no clickability?
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Zero-Width Characters
Zero-width space | |
Zero-width non-breaking space | |
Zero-width non-joining character |
They’re also in Word: How to Insert and Use Zero-Width Space in Word
Stop Text from Turning into a Link Automatically: Domain to Non-Linkable Text Converter
The other way ’round: Zero-Width Space Detector: Zaps Hidden Chars from Text
(First published December 2024, last updated March 2026)