Using Scrap Files to Save and Share OLE Objects

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Windows Explorer is an OLE Linking and Embedding program. That means you can embed data objects in folders or on your desktop. So, for example, if you want to use a particular image repeatedly, you can drag it out of a Paint window to a Windows Explorer window or onto the desktop. To reuse it in your word processor, simply drag it again to the receiving document.

OLE objects in folders or on the desktop are called scrap files. When you create such an object, Windows gives it a default name based on its contents or source, such as "WordPad Document Scrap 'Now is the time…'" You can assign your own name by pressing F2 and typing the name.

A scrap file must originate in a program that supports OLE Linking and Embedding as a source. If the program also supports OLE drag and drop, you can create the scrap by simply dragging the object. If not, select the object in its source program, choose the Copy command, and then move to your folder or to the desktop and choose Paste.

By storing scrap files in a shared folder, you can make OLE objects on your system available to other network users. Similarly, by opening a shared folder on a server, you can access OLE objects stored on that server. To embed a server-based scrap file, for example, simply open the network folder in which the scrap resides, using My Network Places or a mapped folder. Then drag the object to wherever you want it to go. Alternatively, select the object in the network folder, and then paste it into an application or local folder.

To activate a network scrap object's parent application, either for editing purposes or to render an object that's embedded as an icon, you must have a local copy of the parent application.