Illustrate with Charts from Excel

Insert an Excel chart from a spreadsheet

  • Copy a chart in a Excel spreadsheet

  • In the Word document, do one the following:

    • Go to Home tab > Clipboard group > click on the Paste down arrow > select a desired paste option from the Paste Options list

    • Right-click on the position to place the chart > select desired paste option under Paste Options from the shortcut menu

  • There are several ways to paste a chart from Excel

    • Use Destination Theme & Embed Workbook – copy the chart using the current theme of the Word document  and its supporting data in the workbook in the document (edit chart in Word)

    • Keep Source Formatting & Embed Workbook - copy the chart using the theme of the Excel spreadsheet and its supporting data in the workbook in the document (edit chart in Word)

    • Use Destination Theme & Link Data - copy the chart using the current theme of the Word document  and only link the data of the workbook in the document (edit chart in Excel)

    • Keep Source Formatting & Link Data - copy the chart using the theme of the Excel spreadsheet and only link the data of the workbook in the document (edit chart in Excel)

    • Picture – copy the chart as a picture

  • Quick tips:

    • Using paste options with link data keep the chart up-to-date if the data in the spreadsheet changes. However, the chart will be frozen in time if the workbook is renamed, hidden or deleted

    • Using paste the chart as a picture allows to re-size the chart easily

 

Create an Excel chart in a Word document

  • Go to Insert tab > Illustrations group > click on Chart

  • In the Insert Chart dialog box, select the desired chart type > click OK

  • Subtitle the current data in the sample data in the Excel spreadsheet by doing the following:

    • Copy the data table in the Word document

    • Paste it into the Excel spreadsheet