diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d731d49b..511a1fa1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ It's pretty self explanatory (click the "edit" icon to edit, etc.), but there ar
 - For Boolean inputs, space bar will toggle the value
 - Easily move to the next/previous node (for editing) using the `Tab`/`Shift-Tab` key
 - Drag and drop items to change the structure or modify display order
+- When editing is not permitted, double-clicking a string value will expand the text to the full value if it is truncated due to length (there is also a clickable "..." for long strings)
 - JSON text input can accept "looser" input, if an additional JSON parsing method is provided (e.g. [JSON5](https://json5.org/)). See `jsonParse` prop.
 
 [Have a play with the Demo app](https://carlosnz.github.io/json-edit-react/) to get a feel for it!
@@ -639,6 +640,7 @@ Localise your implementation by passing in a `translations` object to replace th
   ERROR_ADD: 'Adding node unsuccessful',
   DEFAULT_STRING: 'New data!',
   DEFAULT_NEW_KEY: 'key',
+  SHOW_LESS: '(Show less)',
 }
 
 ```
@@ -809,9 +811,9 @@ A few helper functions, components and types that might be useful in your own im
 - `themes`: an object containing all the built-in theme definitions
 - `LinkCustomComponent`: the component used to render [hyperlinks](#active-hyperlinks)
 - `LinkCustomNodeDefinition`: custom node definition for [hyperlinks](#active-hyperlinks)
+- `StringDisplay`: main component used to display a string value, re-used in the above "Link" Custom Component
 - `IconAdd`, `IconEdit`, `IconDelete`, `IconCopy`, `IconOk`, `IconCancel`, `IconChevron`: all the built-in [icon](#icons) components
 - `matchNode`, `matchNodeKey`: helpers for defining custom [Search](#searchfiltering) functions
-- `truncate`: function to truncate a string to a specified length. See [here](https://github.com/CarlosNZ/json-edit-react/blob/d5fdbdfed6da7152f5802c67fbb3577810d13adc/src/ValueNodes.tsx#L9-L13)
 - `extract`: function to extract a deeply nested object value from a string path. See [here](https://github.com/CarlosNZ/object-property-extractor)
 - `assign`: function to set a deep object value from a string path. See [here](https://github.com/CarlosNZ/object-property-assigner)
 
diff --git a/src/ValueNodeWrapper.tsx b/src/ValueNodeWrapper.tsx
index d8cf9408..9ead0355 100644
--- a/src/ValueNodeWrapper.tsx
+++ b/src/ValueNodeWrapper.tsx
@@ -223,6 +223,7 @@ export const ValueNodeWrapper: React.FC<ValueNodeProps> = (props) => {
     parentData,
     setValue: updateValue,
     isEditing,
+    canEdit,
     setIsEditing: canEdit ? () => setCurrentlyEditingElement(path) : () => {},
     handleEdit,
     handleCancel,
diff --git a/src/ValueNodes.tsx b/src/ValueNodes.tsx
index a02c0495..12f4cbec 100644
--- a/src/ValueNodes.tsx
+++ b/src/ValueNodes.tsx
@@ -1,23 +1,90 @@
-import React, { useEffect, useRef } from 'react'
+import React, { useEffect, useRef, useState } from 'react'
 import { AutogrowTextArea } from './AutogrowTextArea'
-import { insertCharInTextArea, toPathString, truncate } from './helpers'
+import { insertCharInTextArea, toPathString } from './helpers'
 import { useTheme } from './contexts'
-import { type InputProps } from './types'
+import { type NodeData, type InputProps } from './types'
+import { type TranslateFunction } from './localisation'
 
 export const INVALID_FUNCTION_STRING = '**INVALID_FUNCTION**'
 
+interface StringDisplayProps {
+  nodeData: NodeData
+  styles: React.CSSProperties
+  pathString: string
+  showStringQuotes?: boolean
+  stringTruncate?: number
+  canEdit: boolean
+  setIsEditing: (value: React.SetStateAction<boolean>) => void
+  translate: TranslateFunction
+}
+export const StringDisplay: React.FC<StringDisplayProps> = ({
+  nodeData,
+  showStringQuotes = true,
+  stringTruncate = 200,
+  pathString,
+  canEdit,
+  setIsEditing,
+  styles,
+  translate,
+}) => {
+  const value = nodeData.value as string
+  const [isExpanded, setIsExpanded] = useState(false)
+
+  const quoteChar = showStringQuotes ? '"' : ''
+
+  const requiresTruncation = value.length > stringTruncate
+
+  const handleMaybeEdit = () => {
+    canEdit ? setIsEditing(true) : setIsExpanded(!isExpanded)
+  }
+
+  return (
+    <div
+      id={`${pathString}_display`}
+      onDoubleClick={handleMaybeEdit}
+      onClick={(e) => {
+        if (e.getModifierState('Control') || e.getModifierState('Meta')) handleMaybeEdit()
+      }}
+      className="jer-value-string"
+      style={styles}
+    >
+      {quoteChar}
+      {!requiresTruncation ? (
+        `${value}${quoteChar}`
+      ) : isExpanded ? (
+        <>
+          <span>
+            {value}
+            {quoteChar}
+          </span>
+          <span className="jer-string-expansion jer-show-less" onClick={() => setIsExpanded(false)}>
+            {' '}
+            {translate('SHOW_LESS', nodeData)}
+          </span>
+        </>
+      ) : (
+        <>
+          <span>{value.slice(0, stringTruncate - 2).trimEnd()}</span>
+          <span className="jer-string-expansion jer-ellipsis" onClick={() => setIsExpanded(true)}>
+            ...
+          </span>
+          {quoteChar}
+        </>
+      )}
+    </div>
+  )
+}
+
 export const StringValue: React.FC<InputProps & { value: string }> = ({
   value,
   setValue,
   isEditing,
   path,
-  setIsEditing,
   handleEdit,
-  stringTruncate,
-  showStringQuotes,
   nodeData,
   handleKeyboard,
   keyboardCommon,
+  ...props
 }) => {
   const { getStyles } = useTheme()
 
@@ -25,8 +92,6 @@ export const StringValue: React.FC<InputProps & { value: string }> = ({
 
   const pathString = toPathString(path)
 
-  const quoteChar = showStringQuotes ? '"' : ''
-
   return isEditing ? (
     <AutogrowTextArea
       className="jer-input-text"
@@ -54,19 +119,12 @@ export const StringValue: React.FC<InputProps & { value: string }> = ({
       styles={getStyles('input', nodeData)}
     />
   ) : (
-    <div
-      id={`${pathString}_display`}
-      onDoubleClick={() => setIsEditing(true)}
-      onClick={(e) => {
-        if (e.getModifierState('Control') || e.getModifierState('Meta')) setIsEditing(true)
-      }}
-      className="jer-value-string"
-      style={getStyles('string', nodeData)}
-    >
-      {quoteChar}
-      {truncate(value, stringTruncate)}
-      {quoteChar}
-    </div>
+    <StringDisplay
+      nodeData={nodeData}
+      pathString={pathString}
+      styles={getStyles('string', nodeData)}
+      {...props}
+    />
   )
 }
 
diff --git a/src/customComponents/ActiveHyperlinks.tsx b/src/customComponents/ActiveHyperlinks.tsx
index 6a207af1..d0a0a8b9 100644
--- a/src/customComponents/ActiveHyperlinks.tsx
+++ b/src/customComponents/ActiveHyperlinks.tsx
@@ -7,18 +7,17 @@
  */
 
 import React from 'react'
-import { truncate } from '../../src/helpers'
-import { type CustomNodeProps, type CustomNodeDefinition } from '../types'
+import { StringDisplay } from '../../src/ValueNodes'
+import { toPathString } from '../helpers'
+import { type CustomNodeProps, type CustomNodeDefinition, type ValueNodeProps } from '../types'
+import { useCommon } from '../hooks'
 
-export const LinkCustomComponent: React.FC<CustomNodeProps<{ stringTruncate?: number }>> = ({
-  value,
-  setIsEditing,
-  getStyles,
-  customNodeProps,
-  nodeData,
-}) => {
-  const stringTruncateLength = customNodeProps?.stringTruncate ?? 100
+export const LinkCustomComponent: React.FC<
+  CustomNodeProps<{ stringTruncate?: number }> & ValueNodeProps
+> = (props) => {
+  const { value, setIsEditing, getStyles, nodeData } = props
   const styles = getStyles('string', nodeData)
+  const { canEdit } = useCommon({ props })
   return (
     <div
       onDoubleClick={() => setIsEditing(true)}
@@ -34,7 +33,13 @@ export const LinkCustomComponent: React.FC<CustomNodeProps<{ stringTruncate?: nu
         rel="noreferrer"
         style={{ color: styles.color ?? undefined }}
       >
-        &quot;{truncate(value as string, stringTruncateLength)}&quot;
+        <StringDisplay
+          {...props}
+          nodeData={nodeData}
+          pathString={toPathString(nodeData.path)}
+          styles={styles}
+          canEdit={canEdit}
+        />
       </a>
     </div>
   )
@@ -44,7 +49,7 @@ export const LinkCustomComponent: React.FC<CustomNodeProps<{ stringTruncate?: nu
 export const LinkCustomNodeDefinition: CustomNodeDefinition = {
   // Condition is a regex to match url strings
   condition: ({ value }) => typeof value === 'string' && /^https?:\/\/.+\..+$/.test(value),
-  element: LinkCustomComponent, // the component defined above
+  element: LinkCustomComponent as React.FC<CustomNodeProps>, // the component defined above
   showOnView: true,
   showOnEdit: false,
 }
diff --git a/src/helpers.ts b/src/helpers.ts
index f83fa59e..4985c3a1 100644
--- a/src/helpers.ts
+++ b/src/helpers.ts
@@ -110,16 +110,6 @@ export const matchNodeKey: SearchFilterFunction = ({ key, path }, searchText = '
   return false
 }
 
-/**
- * Truncates a string to a specified length, appends `...` if truncated
- */
-export const truncate = (string: string, length = 200) =>
-  typeof string === 'string'
-    ? string.length < length
-      ? string
-      : `${string.slice(0, length - 2).trim()}...`
-    : string
-
 /**
  * Converts a part expressed as an array of properties to a single string
  */
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index 3b718028..aa786db3 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 export { JsonEditor } from './JsonEditor'
 export { defaultTheme } from './contexts/ThemeProvider'
 export { IconAdd, IconEdit, IconDelete, IconCopy, IconOk, IconCancel, IconChevron } from './Icons'
+export { StringDisplay } from './ValueNodes'
 export { LinkCustomComponent, LinkCustomNodeDefinition } from './customComponents'
-export { matchNode, matchNodeKey, isCollection, truncate } from './helpers'
+export { matchNode, matchNodeKey, isCollection } from './helpers'
 export { default as assign } from 'object-property-assigner'
 export { default as extract } from 'object-property-extractor'
 export {
diff --git a/src/localisation.ts b/src/localisation.ts
index 091b9965..210db099 100644
--- a/src/localisation.ts
+++ b/src/localisation.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ const localisedStrings = {
   ERROR_ADD: 'Adding node unsuccessful',
   DEFAULT_STRING: 'New data!',
   DEFAULT_NEW_KEY: 'key',
+  SHOW_LESS: '(Show less)',
 }
 
 export type LocalisedStrings = typeof localisedStrings
diff --git a/src/style.css b/src/style.css
index 532d5de5..5909cde6 100644
--- a/src/style.css
+++ b/src/style.css
@@ -225,6 +225,16 @@ select:focus + .focus {
   overflow-wrap: anywhere;
 }
 
+.jer-string-expansion {
+  cursor: pointer;
+  opacity: 0.6;
+  filter: saturate(50%);
+}
+
+.jer-show-less {
+  font-size: 80%;
+}
+
 .jer-hyperlink {
   text-decoration: underline;
 }
diff --git a/src/types.ts b/src/types.ts
index 9529bf0f..76bd08fd 100644
--- a/src/types.ts
+++ b/src/types.ts
@@ -298,6 +298,7 @@ export interface CustomNodeDefinition<T = Record<string, unknown>, U = Record<st
   showOnEdit?: boolean // default false
   showOnView?: boolean // default true
   showEditTools?: boolean // default true
+
   // For collection nodes only:
   showCollectionWrapper?: boolean // default true
   wrapperElement?: React.FC<CustomNodeProps<U>>
@@ -314,6 +315,7 @@ export interface CustomButtonDefinition {
 export interface InputProps {
   value: unknown
   setValue: (value: ValueData) => void
+  canEdit: boolean
   isEditing: boolean
   setIsEditing: React.Dispatch<React.SetStateAction<boolean>>
   handleEdit: () => void