MULTI IN ONE: Object Linking and Embedding

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Object Linking and Embedding (or OLE for short) is a technique used to insert data from one programme into another. We'll create a simple spreadsheet to illustrate the process, and place it in to Word document. When the Excel spreadsheet is updated, you'll see the Word version update itself as well.</div>
<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
If you don't want the data to update in Word, for example, it's called Embedding; if you do want the data to update, it's called Linking. We're going to do Linking. For this exercise, you need Word 2007 to Word 2013 as well as Excel 2007 to 2013.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
First, create the simple spreadsheet below, and enter the formula shown in cell E3:</div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<img alt="Create this spreadsheet in Excel 2007" border="1" height="145" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2ole.gif" width="351" /></div>
<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
When you enter a number in cell E1, the answer is placed in cell E3 (don't do this yet).</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
With your spreadsheet created, highlight the cells A1 to E3. Click on the <b>Home</b> tab in Excel. On the <b>Clipboard</b> panel, click on <b>Copy</b>.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Now switch to Word. On the <b>Home</b> tab in Word, locate the <b>Clipboard</b> panel, and the <b>Paste</b> item:</div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<img height="109" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2ole2.gif" width="149" /></div>
<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Click on Paste. From the Paste menu, select <b>Paste Special</b>:</div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<img alt="Paste Special in Excel 2007" height="136" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2ole3.gif" width="152" /></div>
<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
When you click on Paste Special, you'll see the following dialogue box appear:</div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<img alt="The Paste Special dialogue box" height="355" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2ole4.gif" width="527" /></div>
<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Select Microsoft Office Excel Worksheet Object from the dialogue box. On the left hand side, select Paste Link. Click OK.</div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
When you click OK, Word will insert the spreadsheet from Excel:</div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<img alt="The Excel 2007 spreadsheet has been pasted into Word 2007" border="1" height="220" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2ole5.gif" width="516" /></div>
<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
It's even retained the cell formatting!</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
To check that it really does update in Word, switch back to Excel. Click inside Cell E1 and enter the number 7 (If your cells are still highlighted, just press the enter key on your keyboard). Press Enter, and you should have the same answer as in the image below:</div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<img alt="Update the Excel 2007 spreadsheet" height="108" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2ole6.gif" width="325" /></div>
<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Now switch back to Word, and you should see that it too has the same answer:</div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<img alt="The spreadsheet in Word 2007 has been updated" border="1" height="220" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2ole7.gif" width="516" /></div>
<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Word has successfully linked the data from Excel ! If you don't want the updates, you would choose <b>Paste</b> from the Paste Special dialogue box instead of Paste Link.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
You can link or embed things like Charts or Pivot Tables into Word, though, and it can come in really useful.</div>
<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
In the next part, you'll see how to spruce up an Excel spreadsheet with drawing objects.</div>
</div>

Object Linking and Embedding

Object Linking and Embedding (or OLE for short) is a technique used to insert data from one programme into another. We'll create a sim...