Microsoft® Word 2007 Bible

Chapter 24. Inserting Objects and Files

IN THIS CHAPTER

• What are objects?

• Linking versus embedding

• Inserting text from files

• Pasting, dragging, and dropping objects (and other things)

Using a technology known as object linking and embedding (OLE), you can create multimedia and multidimensional documents that incorporate components from a variety of different programs—and not just Office applications. A single document, for example, might contain text from Word, data, and charts from Excel, and sounds or video clips from some other program. This chapter explains how to use the tools provided in Word to accomplish this feat, combining information and capabilities from a wide variety of Windows programs that support OLE.

This chapter also describes how you go about inserting files, whether as objects or simply as an additional source of text and other document fodder. As you will see, sometimes inserting a file is the best way to achieve particular objectives.

Object Basics

An object can be thought of as a unit of information that comes from a specific program. For example, a text selection in Word might be considered an object to Excel or some other program, or even to Word itself under the right circumstances. Word tables or WordArt creations can be objects as well, as can a Word equation, or even a whole Word document. All or part of an Excel worksheet might be an object, as might a PDF file from Adobe, all or part of a MIDI file from a music program, an MP3 from a media player, and so ...