How to Embed a Word Document in Excel

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program but it has a surprising ability to insert outside media for design customization. You might build a spreadsheet proposal, for example, with one tab displaying the spreadsheet numbers and formulas, a second tab showing an embedded Word document with the proposal text and even a third tab with a custom logo and signature sheet. Conversely, you can easily insert Excel data into a Word document. It's much easier to edit text within Excel than data in Word however.

Before you embed a file in Excel, finalize the content in the exterior file. Finalizing content while maintaining formatting in Microsoft Word is much easier than making adjustments after importing it. Simple formatting will also embed with fewer complications. Complex, graphic heavy formatting might work just fine but it has more potential for issues. Sometimes you have to experiment to get things just right. Make sure you save the completed file before attempting to insert it into Excel.

Click the cell where you want to embed the content from Word. Take some time to consider the size of your content in Word. You may want to merge a block of cells to make room for your text. You can also leave a text-heavy Word document in a single cell with the content hidden until the cell is either clicked or resized. Click the "Insert" tab in your menu options and take note of the options in the "Text" section. Click "Object" and "Create from File" to open your computer files. Navigate to the saved Word document. Click "OK" to insert the document.

Rather than embedding the entire Word document, you can choose to embed as an attachment or link. When you link Excel to Word, there is no need to work on the format and it keeps your document clean. Use the process described in the previous section but check the "Display as Icon" box before selecting "OK" to embed the file. This will embed the document as a clickable icon. To insert as a link to the Word document, check the "Link to File" option. This will simply insert a link that opens the file in a separate window. While it's not embedded and actually opens the separate Word document, the workload is less and the ability to maintain two separate, nicely designed documents is useful in many scenarios.