By: We recently wanted to insert some data from Excel into a Word document, but needed to be able to update the Excel data while we worked on the project. There was no easy explanation of how to do this in Help, or online, so—we created our own.
Excel automatically provides headings for columns (A, B, C) and rows (1, 2, 3). You type titles in your sheet that describe the content in rows and columns. In the following illustration, for example, Projected is a row title and 2nd QTR is a column title. Because Excel has proprietary formatting. You can always paste directly from Excel into a Google Docs spreadsheet first, then save it (if it all goes crazy again mid-course you may need to reboot to get it all to settle down, esp. If it's a big workbook with lots of data).
![How to paste table from word into excel and maintain breaks excel for mac 2011 pdf How to paste table from word into excel and maintain breaks excel for mac 2011 pdf](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125489348/430778687.jpg)
This tutorial demonstrates how to place linked Excel Files into Word documents, while enabling the Excel files to be updated independently of the Word document. Note that you have to be careful when utilizing this process by ensuring that the numbers in the Excel portions of the document are correct before deciding that the document is final.
Since you will be linking files together and Microsoft Office relies on to files, it is important that you have your files in a FINAL location, which will not change as you work. If files “get lost,” it is possible to relink them, but it’s best if all the files you’re using are in a single folder. It’s even better if you do no intend to move the folder later (note: this is largely to facilitate your ability to relink the files later if the links get broken). I have tested this, and even after moving the main folder, the files still “worked,” but it’s best to be cautious. In my testing, Excel seems to require all the linked spreadsheets to be open in order for everything to update correctly. I’m sure there is a way to link them more robustly, but have yet to find it. So, until it is found, you will need to open all the spreadsheets that are cross-linked in the document and then update them as necessary.
Note: DON’T attempt to open all the files independently, at the same time. If you need to work on the Word doc and the Excel docs simultaneously, then open Word first and use it to open the Excel files as shown in the step below. Note that you CANNOT simply type new numbers into the tables of the Word document and expect them to be updated in Excel.
You CAN type new numbers, but they become “dead.” To update Excel from within the Word document, right click on the table and choose Linked Open Link (as shown above). The Excel file will open in Excel where you can edit directly. Changes that you make will show up immediately in Word FOR THE CELLS YOU ARE EDITING ONLY. If there is cross-linking between spreadsheets, then the linked data will not be automatically updated. Save and close the Excel sheet when you are done editing. You can convert the Word document to a finalized version by breaking all the links.
First, select Edit Links from the Edit menu. Next, select all the linked Excel sheets and choose the Break Link button.
This will break the links to the Excel docs so that new changes will never get included in the Word document (note that the numbers in the Word document can still be edited manually). As far as I have been able to determine, the only way to relink is to delete the existing cells and paste new ones in from Excel—a repeat of the original process.
![How to paste table from word into excel and maintain breaks excel for mac 2011 pdf How to paste table from word into excel and maintain breaks excel for mac 2011 pdf](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125489348/933572325.jpg)
I'm not sure if this is still an open issue, but I had the same problem when attempting to copy the contents from an HTML table into excel. I would drag my mouse to highlight the content from the HTML table and copy the selected contents to my clipboard. Then I would open Excel, click into one of the cells and paste my clipboard content which would paste it into one long cell instead of formatting it into the column/row format as it appeared in the HTML table. What I found to be my problem was that my dragging my mouse to highlight the table content was actually selecting part of the table border in the last cell I was highlighting.
So when I was careful to highlight and copy just the cell-content (tip: stop highlighting one character short in the last cell) it would paste into Excel with the column/row formatting I was expecting. Hope this helps!