Spreadsheets

When you insert a Calc spreadsheet into Writer, you literally insert a spreadsheet. Whether you copy part of a spreadsheet and paste it into Writer or insert the entire spreadsheet through OLE (Object Linking and Embedding), you can double-click the spreadsheet and edit it as if you're working in Calc.

The inserted spreadsheet is standalone, has no links to the original spreadsheet, and cannot be saved as a separate spreadsheet file.

For information on adjusting inserted spreadsheets within the flow of a text document, such as anchoring, moving, and wrapping text around, see Tips for Adjusting Inserted Objects and Fixing Broken Links on page 304.

Inserting a New Empty Spreadsheet

1. Choose Insert > Object > OLE Object.

2. In the Insert OLE Object window, keep Create New selected and select Spreadsheet.

3. Click OK.

4. Increase or decrease the number of displayed columns by dragging the resize handles or by dragging the columns to increase or decrease column size.

5. Click in the cells to make the Calc object bar appear; enter and format data as you would normally.

6. When you click outside the object, the rows and columns will disappear and only the data will be displayed. Double-click the object to get the formatting ability back.

Inserting Part of an Existing Spreadsheet

1. With both Writer and the desired Calc spreadsheet open , select the cells in the spreadsheet you want to insert in Writer.

2. Press Ctrl+C or choose Edit > Copy to copy.

3. Switch to your Writer document, and click where you want to insert the spreadsheet.

4. Choose Edit > Paste Special.

5. In the Paste Special window, select Calc Spreadsheet and click OK.

The spreadsheet is displayed in the Writer document as an object with green resize handles, as shown in Figure 8-19. You can edit the spreadsheet in Writer after you insert it. See Editing Inserted Existing Calc Spreadsheets on page 293.

Figure 8-19. Inserting part of a Calc spreadsheet

You can also use this procedure to insert spreadsheets from other spreadsheet applications. In the Paste Special window, select the appropriate spreadsheet type.

If your Calc and Writer documents are displayed side by side, you can also select cells in a spreadsheet and click and drag them into the Writer document.

Inserting a Whole Existing Spreadsheet

In addition to inserting part of a Calc spreadsheet into Writer, you can insert an entire spreadsheet. This usually works best if you're inserting into a landscape page. This is a hit-and- miss procedure, though, because if your spreadsheet is wider than the Writer page, or if it has more rows than can fit on a page, the results won't be good. Instead, consider converting a spreadsheet to a Writer table. See Converting a Spreadsheet to a Writer Table on page 294.

To insert a whole spreadsheet:

1. Click in Writer where you want to insert the spreadsheet.

2. In the toolbar, click and hold down the Insert Objects tool, and click the Insert OLE Object tool.

   

3. In the Insert OLE Object window (Figure 8-20), select the Create from file option.

   Figure 8-20. Inserting a whole Calc spreadsheet

   

4. Click the Search button, and double-click the spreadsheet you want to insert.

5. Click OK.

You can also insert a blank spreadsheet by selecting the Create new option in the Insert OLE Object window.

Editing Inserted Existing Calc Spreadsheets

If you inserted only selected cells from a Calc spreadsheet, only this datanot any other data in the original spreadsheetis brought into Writer.

1. In Writer, double-click the Calc spreadsheet object.

   The object's resize handles turn black, and the spreadsheet becomes an editable Calc spreadsheet, with spreadsheet tabs, scroll bars, menus , tools, a formula bar, and the Calc object bar (see Figure 8-21).

   Figure 8-21. Editing an inserted Calc spreadsheet

   

2. Make changes to the spreadsheet (this doesn't change the original spreadsheet).

3. Click outside of the spreadsheet to get out of edit mode.

   The cells that were displayed in the spreadsheet window when you got out of edit mode now display. To change the cells that are displayed, double-click to get back into edit mode, and use the scrollbars to view the correct cells.

Updating Automatically as the Spreadsheet Changes

This feature works in Windows only. You can insert a Calc spreadsheet into Writer so that when you edit the spreadsheet file itself, the changes automatically appear in the spreadsheet object in Writer. The drawback to using this method is that the spreadsheet object pasted into Writer is displayed as a basic, unformatted table.

1. In Calc, select the cells you want to insert into Writer.

2. Press Ctrl+C or choose Edit > Copy to copy.

3. Switch to your Writer document, and click where you want to insert the spreadsheet.

4. Choose Edit > Paste Special.

5. In the Paste Special window, select DDE link, and click OK.

   DDE stands for Dynamic Data Exchange.

Deleting a DDE Linked Spreadsheet

If you use the previous procedure to insert a Calc spreadsheet into Writer, you can't delete the table by simply selecting its cells and deleting rows or columns. You have to click in the paragraph above or below the table, drag through it so that the whole thing is selected, and press Delete.