Working with Linked and Embedded Objects

Now that you have a linked or embedded object, what can you do with it? Many things. You can edit an embedded object by double-clicking it, of course. And you can update, change, and even break the links associated with a linked object. The following sections provide some details.

Opening and Converting Embedded Objects

When you select an embedded object in PowerPoint and then right-click the object, you can choose datatype Object where datatype is the object type. (Its exact name depends on the object type, for example, Worksheet Object.) From the submenu you can choose:

• Edit: Opens the object for editing within PowerPoint (if possible). Some applications can work from within PowerPoint, such as the Excel example in Figure 15.6. If the object is related to an application that can't do this, the object opens for editing in a separate window for that application.

• Open: Opens the object for editing in a separate window for the application with which it is associated.

• Convert: Opens a dialog box that enables you to convert the object to some other type (if possible). This sounds great in theory, but in practice there are usually very few alternatives to choose from.

EXPERT TIP 

Although convert options also appear for linked objects, you cannot convert them; you must break the link first. That's because a linked object must have a certain object type to maintain its link. Even after breaking a link, there might not be any viable choices for converting it to other formats.

Editing a Linked or Embedded Object

To edit a linked or embedded object, follow these steps:

1. Display the slide containing the linked or embedded object.

2. Double-click the object. The object's program's controls appear. They might be integrated into the PowerPoint window, like the ones for Excel that you saw in Figure 15.6, or they might appear in a separate window.

3. Edit the object as needed.

4. Return to PowerPoint by doing one of the following:

   • If the object is embedded (not linked), click the slide behind the object to return to PowerPoint.

   • If the object is linked, choose File Exit (or Office Exit if it's an Office 2007 program). Remember, the menu system that appears is for the embedded application, not for PowerPoint. When you are asked to save your changes, click Yes.

You can also edit a linked object directly in its original application, independently from PowerPoint. Close your PowerPoint presentation and open the original application. Do your editing, and save your work. Then, reopen your PowerPoint presentation and the object will reflect the changes.

Changing How Links Update

OLE links are automatically updated each time you open your PowerPoint file. However, updating these links slows down the file opening considerably, so if you open and close the file frequently, you might want to set the link updating to Manual. That way, the links are updated only when you issue a command to update them. To set a link to update manually, follow these steps:

1. Open the PowerPoint presentation that contains the linked object(s).

2. Choose Office Prepare Edit Links to Files. The Links dialog box appears as shown in Figure 15.7.

   
   Figure 15.7: You can change the update setting for the links in your presentation here.

   Note 

   If you don't see Edit Links to Files, scroll down on the Prepare submenu. Click the down arrow at the bottom of it to move down.

3. Click the link that you want to change.

4. Click the Manual button.

5. If you want to change any other links, repeat steps 3 and 4. You can also use the Shift and Ctrl keys to select more than one link at once.

6. If you want to update a link now, select it and click the Update Now button.

7. Click OK.

8. Choose Office Save to save the presentation changes (including the changes to the link settings).

When you set a link to manual, you have to open the Links dialog box and click Update Now, as in step 6, each time you want to update it. Or, you can right-click the object and choose Update Link from its shortcut menu.

Breaking a Link

When you break a link, the object remains in the presentation, but it becomes an ordinary object, just like any other picture or other object you might have placed there. You can't double-click it to edit it anymore, and it doesn't update when the source changes. To break a link, reopen the Links dialog box shown in Figure 15-7 (Office Prepare Edit Links to Files), click the link to break, and then click Break Link. If a warning box appears, click OK.

When you break a link, embedding information disappears, too. For example, if you have a linked Excel chart and you break the link, the result is a simple pasted image of the chart with no ties to the Excel application. To reestablish a link, simply recreate it as you did originally.

Changing the Referenced Location of a Link

If you move files around on your hard disk, or move them to other disks, you might need to change the link location reference. For example, perhaps you are moving the presentation file to a floppy disk and you want to place all of the linked files needed for the presentation in a separate folder on the floppy disk. To change a link reference, do the following:

1. Copy or move the files where you want them. For example, if you want to transfer the presentation and linked files to a floppy, do that first.

2. Open the PowerPoint presentation that contains the linked object(s) to change. If you copied the presentation to some new location, make sure you open the copy that you want to change.

3. Choose Office Prepare Edit Links to Files. The Links dialog box opens, as shown in Figure 15.7.

4. Click the link you want to change.

5. Click Change Source. A Change Source dialog box opens. It is just like the normal Open dialog boxes you have worked with many times.

6. Select the file to be linked from its new location, and click Open. The link is updated.

7. In the Links dialog box, click Close.

Caution 

If you change the location of a link to a different file, depending on the object type, the link may change to refer to the entire file, as if you had inserted it with Insert Object. If you used Edit Paste Special, Paste Link to insert only a part of the original file, that aspect might be lost and the entire file might appear as the object in the presentation. In such situations, it is better to delete the object and recreate the link from scratch.