One benefit of working with Excel 2010 is that because it is part
of Office 2010, it is possible to combine data from Excel and other
Office programs to create informative documents and presentations. Just
as you do when you combine data from more than one Excel document, when
you combine information from another Office file with an Excel workbook,
you can either paste the other Office document into the Excel workbook
or create a link between the workbook and the other document.
There are two advantages to creating a link between your Excel
workbook and the other file. The first benefit is that linking to the
other file, as opposed to copying the entire file into your workbook,
keeps your Excel workbook small. If the workbook is copied to another
drive or computer, you can maintain the link by copying the linked file
along with the Excel workbook or by re-creating the link if the linked
file is on the same network as the Excel workbook. It is also possible
to use the workbook if the linked file isn’t available. The second
benefit of linking to another file is that any changes in the file to
which you link are reflected in your Excel workbook.
You create a link between an Excel workbook and another Office
document by clicking the cell where you want the document to appear,
clicking the Insert tab and then, in the Text group, clicking Object to
display the Object dialog box. In the Object dialog box, click the
Create From File tab.
Clicking the Browse button on the Create From File page
opens the Browse dialog box, from which you can browse to the folder
containing the file you want to link to. After you locate the file,
double-clicking it closes the Browse dialog box and adds the file’s name
and path to the File Name box of the Object dialog box. To create a link
to the file, select the Link To File check box, and click OK. When you
do, the file appears in your workbook near the active cell.
If you want to link a file to your workbook but don’t want the
file image to take up much space on the screen, you can also select the
Display As Icon check box. After you select the file and click OK, the
file will be represented by the same icon used to represent it in
Windows. Double-clicking the icon displays the file.
After you have linked a file—for example, a Microsoft
PowerPoint 2010 presentation—to your Excel workbook, you can edit the
file by right-clicking its image or icon in your workbook and then, on
the shortcut menu that appears, pointing to the appropriate Object
command and clicking Edit. For a PowerPoint file, you point to
Presentation Object. The file will open in its native application. When
you finish editing the file, your changes appear in your
workbook.
Tip
The specific menu item you point to changes to reflect the
program used to create the file to which you want to link. For a Word
2010 document, for example, the menu item you point to is Document
Object.
In this exercise, you’ll link a PowerPoint 2010 presentation
showing a business summary to an Excel workbook and then edit the
presentation from within Excel.
Important
You must have PowerPoint 2010 installed on your computer to
complete this exercise.
Set Up
-
In the SummaryPresentation
workbook, on the Insert tab, in
the Text group, click Object.
The Object dialog box opens.
-
Click the Create from File
tab.
The Create From File page is displayed.
-
Click Browse.
The Browse dialog box opens.
-
Browse to the 2010YearlyRevenueSummary.pptx presentation,
and then click Insert.
The Browse dialog box closes, and the full file path of the
2010YearlyRevenueSummary presentation appears in the File Name
box.
-
Select the Link to file
check box, and then click OK.
Excel creates a link from your workbook to the
presentation.
-
Right-click the presentation, point to Presentation Object, and then click
Edit.
The presentation opens in a PowerPoint 2010 window.
Troubleshooting
The appearance of buttons and groups on the ribbon changes
depending on the width of the program window.
-
Click Consolidated Messenger
FY2010.
The text box containing Consolidated Messenger FY2010 is
activated.
-
Select the FY2010 text, and
then type Calendar Year
2010.
-
In PowerPoint, on the Quick Access Toolbar, click the
Save button.
PowerPoint saves your changes, and Excel updates the linked
object’s appearance to reflect the new text.
-
Click the File tab, and
then click Save.
Clean Up
Close the SummaryPresentation workbook and the
2010YearlyRevenueSummary presentation. If you don’t plan to work
through the next exercise immediately, exit PowerPoint.
