Excel 2013 All-in-One For Dummies
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Of all the Office 2013 programs (besides Excel 2013), Microsoft Word 2013 is the one that you are most apt to use. From time to time, you may need to bring some worksheet data or charts that you’ve created in your Excel workbooks into a Word document that you’re creating.

As with all the other Office programs, you have two choices when bringing Excel data (worksheet cell data or charts) into a Word document: You can embed the data in the Word document, or you can link the data that you bring into Word to its original Excel worksheet.

Embed the data or charts when you want to be able to edit right within Word. Link the data or charts when you want to be able to edit in Excel and have the changes automatically updated when you open the Word document.

Embed data into a Word document. Select the Show Windows Side by Side option to place the Excel 2013 window to the immediate right of the Word 2013 window.

Embed data into a Word document. Select the Show Windows Side by Side option to place the Excel 2013 window to the immediate right of the Word 2013 window.

Start by selecting and dragging a cell range from a worksheet.

The easiest way to embed a table of worksheet data or a chart is to use the good old drag-and-drop method: Simply drag the selected cells or chart between the Excel and Word program windows instead of to a new place in a worksheet. The only trick to dragging and dropping between programs is the sizing and maneuvering of the Excel and Word program windows themselves.

Drag the cell range to the new paragraph marker in the memo in the Word document window.

Drag the cell range to the new paragraph marker in the memo in the Word document window.

As you pass over the border between the Excel and Word program windows, the mouse pointer changes shape to the international “oh-no-you-don’t” symbol. When you reach the safe haven of the Word document area, however, the pointer changes again, this time to the shape of an arrowhead sticking up from a box with a plus sign.

Edit the Excel data right from within Word.

Edit the Excel data right from within Word.

You can center it with the Center button on Word’s Formatting toolbar. When you double-click the embedded table (or click the table once and then choose Worksheet Object→Edit from the table’s shortcut menu), a frame with columns and rows, scroll bars, and the Cookie Sales sheet tab miraculously appears at the bottom of the table.

Notice, too, that the tabs on the Word Ribbon have changed to ones on the Excel Ribbon. (It’s like being at home when you’re still on the road.) At this point, you can edit any of the table’s contents by using the Excel commands that you already know.

Link the Excel data to the Word document.

Link the Excel data to the Word document.

Select a chart that you’ve created in a worksheet by single-clicking it, not double-clicking it. Then, after copying the chart (or selected data) to the Clipboard by clicking the Copy command on the Excel Ribbon’s Home tab, switch over to Word.

Position the insertion point at the beginning of the paragraph where the chart needs to be. Choose the Paste Special option from the Paste button’s drop-down menu on the Home tab of Word’s Ribbon. (You can also do this by pressing Alt+HVS.)

Select the Paste Link option button and Microsoft Excel Chart Object in the list box.

Select the Paste Link option button and Microsoft Excel Chart Object in the list box.

Click OK. The linked chart is pasted into the Word memo.

Editing data linked to Excel (as a chart or cells) is not quite as delightful as editing embedded worksheet data. For one thing, you first have to go back to Excel and make your changes — although you can easily open Excel and its workbook just by double-clicking the linked chart.

The nice thing, however is that any changes that you make to the original data or chart are immediately reflected in the Word document the moment you open it.

About This Article

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About the book author:

Greg Harvey, PhD, is President of Mind Over Media and a highly skilled instructor. He has been writing computer books for more than 20 years, and his long list of bestsellers includes all editions of Excel For Dummies, Excel All-in-One For Dummies, and Excel Workbook For Dummies.

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