WD98: How to Change an Existing Linked Excel Object (185316)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition

This article was previously published under Q185316

SYMPTOMS

After you use the Paste command in a Microsoft Word document to insert a link to a Microsoft Excel worksheet, there is no direct way to change the number of rows or columns being linked from Excel.

WORKAROUND

To change the number of rows or columns linked to an Excel worksheet from a Word document, use of the following methods.

Method 1: Change the Linked Field Code

To change the linked field code, follow these steps:

  1. Open the document that contains the links to the Excel worksheets.
  2. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the View tab.
  3. Under Show, click to select the Field Codes check box, and then click OK.

    NOTE: For each link to the Excel worksheet, you should see a field similar to the following:
    {LINK Excel.Sheet.8 "C:\\My Documents\\EXCEL 97\\TEST1.XLS" Sheet1!R1C1:R7C6 \a \r }
    						
    This example shows that you have a link to the cells of R1C1:R7C6 of an Excel worksheet called Test1.xls. To change the cells of the link, you need to change the cell reference of R1C1:R7C6. For example, to increase the number of rows and columns by 2, you will need to change R7C6 to R9C8.
  4. After you change the cell reference to what you want, press F9 to update the field.
  5. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the View tab.
  6. Under Show, click to clear the Field Codes check box, and then click OK.

Method 2: Edit the Excel Link

To edit the Excel worksheet link and change the referenced cells, do the following steps:

  1. Open the document that contains the links to Excel worksheets.
  2. On the Edit menu, click Links.
  3. In the Links dialog box, select the link you want to change and then click Change Source.
  4. In the Item box, change the sheet cell references to your updated cell references, click to select your Excel worksheet, and then click Open.

    NOTE: The worksheet cell references in the Item box should appear similar to the following example:

    Sheet1!R1C1:R3C3

  5. In the Links dialog box, click Update Now and then click Close.

Method 3: Re-create the Link from Excel

To re-create the link from Excel, follow these steps:

  1. In Excel, select the new cell range in the worksheet that you want.
  2. On the Edit menu, click Copy.
  3. Switch to Word, and open the document to insert the link. Select the existing link and press DELETE.
  4. On the Edit menu, click Paste Special, and then select Paste Link.
  5. Click OK.

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:10/4/2002
Keywords:kbhowto kbinterop KB185316