I certainly can, by using my keyboard, in the same way as every other text editor: Shift + ← or →; and by dragging my mouse pointer over the part I want to select. Aren’t those methods working for you?

Thanks for answering to my query. I've tried again and I've discovered what's happening. 

If I cut and paste a link I can certainly select any part of the text. LibreOffice is treating the link as pure text so no differences here. 

However, if I please the return key, it becomes a proper hyperlink. In this case, I can't select part of the link with the mouse. The cursor becomes a special cursor with a small square. This messes up the link because it may move letters to other parts of the link making the  link unusable.

Hi, this is an option you have to set under Tools > Autocorrect options > Options > uncheck Detect URLs. If you want your links to become URLs formatted again, at the end of your work, check the options again and go to Format > Autocorrect > Apply.
If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask for help on our users list or the Ask site. Thanks
Closing as worksforme - Sophie

This sounds like a painful workaround. I'm migrating from Microsoft Office and this is the sort of thing that puts off new users. 

In Word you don't need to deactivate a function to do a quick selection and then activate again. This sounds like a bug to me. 

Being able to do something simple with 10 clicks doesn't mean it's ok. How could I at least request this as a possible feature to add?

Hi, the feature is here. If you want a shorter way, just uncheck Format > Autcorrect > while typing, it's only two clicks (or none with alt key), or as Adolfo suggested it, the keyboard. What you see an issue for you may be a convenient way for others, so having the choice to activate an option or not give you the liberty to use it or not. Sophie

I totally get you're saying but I disagree. This is a workaround not a solution. In Word there's no need to deselect autocorrect options to select just part of a hyperlink. This is not about autocorrect options but about LibreOffice treating hyperlinks as a unselectable blocks, whereas Word treats hyperlinks as links AND text. In a text document there's no reason why hyperlinks should be treating as an object instead of editable text

Created attachment 105162 [details]
Example ODT with link illustrating problem with click-n-drag selection.

(In reply to comment #3)
> Hi, this is an option you have to set under Tools > Autocorrect options >
> Options > uncheck Detect URLs.

I don't think this option affects the ability to select part of a hyperlink using the mouse as indicated:

(In reply to comment #2)
> However, if I please the return key, it becomes a proper hyperlink. In this
> case, I can't select part of the link with the mouse. The cursor becomes a
> special cursor with a small square.

I'm attaching an example document containing a hyperlink. Regardless of whether the indicated option is turned on or off, click-n-drag over part of the hyperlink (e.g., try selecting "username:password@domain:port/") results in one or more characters being dragged to a new location. Basic text selection should never be impaired in this manner.

I am happy to confirm this report, although it would be good if someone else could double-check my attachment / description. This report is likely an enhancement request as the current behaviour has been this way since at least v3.5.7.2.

(In reply to comment #8)
> I am happy to confirm this report, although it would be good if someone else
> could double-check my attachment / description. This report is likely an
> enhancement request as the current behaviour has been this way since at
> least v3.5.7.2.

I can confirm this behavior with version 4.3.2.0.0+ (Build ID: c8964193051a9ef543a50c7d87c78da99f253fbd) build at home under Ubuntu 14.04 x86-64
I observe it with LibreOffice 4.1.6 (TDF build) too.

Best regards. JBF

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 72266 ***

Consolidation into earlier bug 39015.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 39015 ***