How to insert Excel table in Word

Do you need to draw up a work report in which the data of an Excel sheet must be integrated but you don’t want to waste time copying all the tables? No problem. You may not know it, but Word integrates a function that allows you to directly include Excel spreadsheets in text documents without having to copy any data.

In today’s guide, in fact, I will show you in detail how to insert an Excel table in Word using the “standard” features available in Office. Thanks to the interoperability feature between the two software, you will certainly succeed in your intent to show an Excel table in Word without necessarily having to recreate it from scratch. I will explain how to carry out this procedure both on computers and on smartphones and tablets.

Can’t wait to get started, am I right? So let’s not waste any more precious time: sit comfortably and pay the utmost attention to all the suggestions that I will give you in the following paragraphs. I am sure that, by the end of the reading, you will have all the information you need to be able to reach your goal. Happy reading and good work!

Index

• How to insert Excel table in Word on PC
  • Paste the Excel table into Word
  • Connect the data source
  • How to insert an Excel file into Word as an icon
  • How to insert Excel table in horizontal Word
• How to insert Excel table in Word on smartphones and tablets
• Create an Excel table in Word

How to insert Excel table in Word on PC

If you want to learn how to insert an Excel table in Word, know that this is possible by taking advantage of the different features available in the desktop version of this software belonging to the Microsoft Office suite.

Although I have used Office 2019, know that the indications you are about to read are valid for all the most recent editions of Microsoft Office, i.e. all those that have the tabbed interface (from 2007 onwards).

Paste the Excel table into Word

If you want to find out how to insert an Excel table in Word, all you have to do is open the Excel document for which you intend to embed in your Word sheet, select with the mouse all the cells of the table to export and copy them by clicking on the Copy button. located at the top left (the icon of the two sheets ).

Now, open the Word document, place the mouse cursor in the point of the sheet where you want to view the Excel table and click on the ▼ icon located under the Paste button on the Home tab.

Once this is done, click on one of the icons in the box that is shown to you: in this way you can decide the format in which to import the table into the Word sheet. You have several options, but I will point them out in detail below.

• Keep original formatting to insert the table in Word keeping its original formatting (colors, text formatting and so on);
• Use target styles to adapt the style of the table to that of the Word document (losing the original colors of the table);
• Image to paste the table in the form of an image (ideal if you do not intend to change the content or appearance of the table in any way);
• Keep Text Only to paste only the text contained in the table but not the table itself.
• After pasting the table into Word, the latter may not be correctly paginated. To adapt it to the Word sheet and display it correctly, you must select it (by clicking on the cross icon located at the top left), go to the Layout tab in the Table Tools section and press the Adapt button, then choosing one of the options you want. are shown.
• If you want to edit the imported table using Excel tools and not Microsoft Word, proceed as follows: copy the Excel table, open Word, position the cursor in the document where you want to insert the table, click on the ▼ icon under the Paste button and select Paste Special from the menu that appears.
• In the screen you see, check the Pastebox, then click on the item Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object and press the OK button, in order to insert the Excel table in your Word document. To edit the table, just double-click on it and edit the various cells just as if you were in Excel.

Connect the data source

Through the procedure indicated in the previous chapter, you can have a copy of the data of the Excel table inside the Word file. By making changes in Excel, you will not see any changes in the data pasted into Word and vice versa.

If, however, you want to link the documents, so that the data can be edited in Excel and then see the result in Word, you will have to proceed differently.

First, copy the table to the Excel worksheet and then open the Word document. Once this is done, move the cursor to the point in the document where you want to return the table and click on the ▼ icon located under the Paste button. At this point, you have two possible options: Link and keep the original formatting, if you want to paste the table keeping its original style, or Link and use target styles if you want to use the current document style for the imported table in Excel as well.

Well: now, by editing the source sheet in Excel, all the changes will be automatically reflected in the Word document. In the Word document, you will be able to modify the contents of the table as if it were a common Word table, but unfortunately, the contents will not be reflected in the source Excel file.

To link documents in both directions, you have to use another feature: after copying the Excel table, go to Word, click on the ▼ icon located under the Paste button and select the Paste Special item; in the screen that is shown to you, then select the Paste link box and click on the item Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object, finally confirming with the OK button.

How to insert an Excel file into Word as an icon

Do you want to insert an Excel file into Word as an attachment? Well! Know that this operation is possible! Within a Word document, you can add an Excel file, showing its icon and file name so that it can be opened with a simple double click.

To do this, go to the folder where the Excel file is located and click on it with the right mouse button. In the context menu, select the Copy item and then open the Word document. Now, place the cursor where you want to place the link and press the ▼ icon located under the Paste button.

At this point, select the Paste special item and, in the box that is shown to you, first select the Paste link box and then the Microsoft Excel Macro-Enabled Worksheet Object item. Then press the Change icon button and choose the icon and the caption of the link.

If you have followed my instructions correctly, you will be able to insert an Excel file into Word as an icon. It was easy, am I right?

How to insert Excel table in horizontal Word

If the table to be pasted into Word is very large, it might be a good idea to change the orientation of the sheet from portrait to landscape. To do this, select the Word Layout tab (top left), press the Orientation button and select the Horizontal option from the menu that appears.

Now, insert the table using one of the methods I showed you in the previous chapters, preferring the simple copy-paste or by linking the data between the two documents. The choice is yours alone.

Then, adapt the contents of the table to the sheet: click on the table and select it by pressing the cross icon at the top left; go to the Layout tab in the Table Tools section and press the Adapt button, choosing one of the options in the list.

How to insert Excel table in Word on smartphones and tablets

As you surely know, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel are also available as apps for smartphones and tablets. They are compatible with Android and iOS / iPadOS and are free for all devices that have displays up to 10.1 “. Beyond these measures, they require the subscription of a Microsoft 365 subscription, starting from 7 euros/month. To download the app on your device, you can refer to this tutorial of mine.

Even using the mobile versions of these two applications, you can insert an Excel table into Word. Unfortunately, you will not be able to take advantage of all the advanced formatting functions and link Excel documents with those of Word, but to transform an Excel sheet into a Word table, the mobile version of the two software is enough and advances.

If you want to try your hand at this test, proceed as follows: start the Excel app, open the spreadsheet and select the cells to insert in the Word document. If you do not know how to select the cells, know that just “tap” on one of them, move the indicators to the other cells to be copied and select the Copy command from the menu that opens.

Once this is done, start the Word app, open the document in which to insert the table (or create a new one), make a long tap on the point of the sheet in which to insert the table and select the Paste item from the menu that appears.

At this point, you can edit the contents of the table as if it were a common Word table. It wasn’t difficult, was it?

Create an Excel table in Word

Don’t want to insert an Excel table into Word? Do you prefer to create a spreadsheet directly in Word and edit it having Excel functions available? No problem, you can do that too.

To create an Excel table in Word, open your Microsoft word processor and place the text cursor where you want to insert the table. At this point, select the Insert tab located at the top left, click the Table button and select the Excel Spreadsheet item from the menu that appears.

Next, double-click on the newly inserted table and to edit it directly using Excel functions (which will be executed in a built-in way in Word).

To save the changes, all you have to do is click anywhere on the sheet, outside the Excel table, and click on the floppy disk icon located at the top left (or go to the File> Save As Word menu ). Easier than that?