Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Embedding an Excel Worksheet.

Embedding an Excel Worksheet

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 31, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Word allows you to embed a worksheet directly from Excel. The link established between your document and the Excel worksheet can be updated whenever you desire. To embed a worksheet in your document, follow these steps:

Open the Excel worksheet.
Select the portion of the worksheet you wish to embed in your Word document.
Press Ctrl+C to copy the selection to the Clipboard.
Switch to the Word document.
Position the insertion pointer where you want the worksheet placed.
Choose Paste Special from the Edit menu. The Paste Special dialog box will appear. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Paste Special dialog box.

Select the Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object as the preferred method of pasting.
Make sure the Paste Link radio button is selected.
Click on OK. Word inserts the linked spreadsheet in your document.

When you later want to modify the Excel worksheet, simply double-click your mouse on it within your document. You can edit it using tools you are familiar with in Excel, and you can then click your mouse outside of the worksheet (elsewhere in your Word document) to return to regular Word editing. Any changes you make to the embedded spreadsheet are automatically saved in the original Excel spreadsheet.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (56) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Embedding an Excel Worksheet.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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