Object Linking and Embedding OLE with MS Office Object Linking and Embedding

MS Office is a suite of software The applications can share information among themselves There are different ways to do it, depending on Whether you want the data to be ‘live’ or not Whether you want all the data in one file Whether you are going to move your documents to another location

Three Methods Copy and Paste Embedding Linking These will be discussed in the order of decreasing “independence” between the source document and the target document Copy and Paste is the most independent, Linking is the least independent

Copy and Paste The simplest way to share data between applications Have both apps open at the same time Select and copy what you want from one document – goes into the Clipboard Activate other app and Paste the data in the Clipboard where you want it in the document using usual Paste methods PROBLEM: data is static – if the original data changes, this copy is NOT updated

Copy and Paste cont’d The paste operation turns the object being pasted into the format of the target document cells in Excel become a table in Word a table in Access becomes a table in Word Word documents lose some formatting when pasted into Powerpoint

Paste Special The other two operations require “Paste Special” You get that by going to the target application and choosing the Paste menu

Paste Special When you choose Paste Special you get a menu of choices of formats to paste as You want to choose the Object format

Embedding Embedding an object in a document keeps the object in its “native format” A spreadsheet stays a spreadsheet, does not change to a table in Word You can edit it with a limited form of the original application – not Excel but a smaller version of Excel Copy the object, then Paste Special then Paste then choose the “object” type

Embedding If you double click on an embedded object, you open up a limited form of the application that originally created the object You can make changes that are reflected in the object in the current document – they are NOT reflected in the original object

Advantages to embedding Data can be manipulated in its “native format” The object is part of the document and will be moved with it – it’s not a separate file If moved to another machine, that machine does not have to have the application installed (software is packaged with the object)

Linking an object Linking an object to a document establishes a link between the two documents The data is really stored in the original (source) document Changes made in the target document are actually made to the source and use the full power of the application that created the object

Linking You link by copying the object you want in the source application, then using Paste Special in the target application, then say “Paste as Link” When you double click on the object in the target, you open the source application and can make any changes you want to – they will show in both documents

Linking When an object is linked to a document, all that is stored in the target is the location of the object This saves space; there is only one copy of the data This can be awkward if you move the original file – the link won’t work afterwards

Linking - updating The default behavior in Word is to automatically update data that is linked to a document when it is opened If you don’t want this, you can set it so that it is updated manually – Office button, Prepare, Edit Links to Files Be careful that you want this update to happen! If the original has changed, it will overwrite your copy in the target

Which to use? If all you need is a ‘snapshot’ of the data, use Copy and Paste If you need an object that is editable in its original format and that is part of the current document, use Embedding If you want to be able to use all the abilities of the source application, or you are tight on space for storing the document, use a Link

Which to use? If you want the data NOT to be updated when the original changes, and you can edit the data in the target application, use copy and paste If you want the data NOT to be updated when the original changes but want to edit in “native format”, use embedding If you want the data to always be the most current version and have the full power of the application available, then use linking

Another way to do Linking and Embedding – in Office 07 Insert object Create from file, browse to file Make a choice of either Link or not with the checkbox Link checked = Linked Link not checked = Embedded