How to avoid link higlighting when using package hyperref?

Since hyperref version 2011/02/05 v6.82a, the option hidelinks has been available, which suppresses the highlighting of links.

Only load the url package it also provides \url but will not render an hyperlink. Note that most PDF viewer do this now automatically anyway.

If your really need hyperref for something else try to:

1. Load the option with the package: \usepackage[colorlinks=false]{hyperref}

2. Create a hyperref.cfg file in the same directory as your TeX file and put the \hypersetup{colorlinks=false} in there.

Certain options of hyperref must be given very early and can't be changed afterwards. The colorlinks option might be one of them.

Supplement:

I just tested this under my TeXLive 2010 installation. With colorlinks=false I get the usual colored frame around the hypertext. You might want to activate colors and set them to black:

\usepackage[colorlinks=true,urlcolor=black]{hyperref}

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[colorlinks,linkcolor=black]{hyperref}
\begin{document}

Microsoft Surface\footnote{\url{http://www.microsoft.com/surface}}

\end{document}

if you want the links. Replace \usepackage{url} instead of hyperref, will print URLs in typewriter. NEarly all pdf viewer convert it by default into a link.

Herbert