So What Does Linking And Embedding Objects In PowerPoint Actually Mean?

This short article looks at what we mean by linking and embedding objects in a PowerPoint presentation. We often add items from Word or Excel to PowerPoint so this article focuses on linking and embedding into PowerPoint, but you can also link and embed objects between other Office applications.

This short article looks at what we mean by linking and embedding objects in a PowerPoint presentation. We often add items from Word or Excel to PowerPoint so this article focuses on linking and embedding into PowerPoint, but you can also link and embed objects between other Office applications. An object consists of part of a file, for example a Word table or an Excel chart, or it could be an entire Word or Excel file.

If you've successfully created PowerPoint presentations and added things like Word tables or Excel charts to your slides, you'll come across various prompts or tick boxes concerning linking or embedding. Your choices for these options affects how the items behaves in PowerPoint if you later change the original data. This article looks at how to use both options.

We'll look at embedding first. Most of us start adding items from Word or Excel by first selecting the item in Word or Excel (for example a Word table or an Excel chart), and then copying (to the computer's clipboard). Then with the required PowerPoint slide open in design view, we paste - and voila there's the Word table or Excel chart.

A regular copy and paste operation like this results in the item being EMBEDDED in the PowerPoint slide. The selected item is a copy of the original, and is not connected to it in any way. It looks just fine when you run your PowerPoint slideshow. You can save the PowerPoint file, change the filename name and/or the saved location, email the PowerPoint file it to a friend, and when your friend opens the file in PowerPoint the table or chart will still show perfectly well. So the embedded item is a copy of the original.

If you subsequently change the original table or chart in Word or Excel, PowerPoint is not affected and the original items still show in the presentation. You can even delete or move the original file - PowerPoint doesn't mind.

Now we'll look at LINKING. If you want to be able to update the original item and have the copied version in PowerPoint update as well, you need to link the items.

To do this the original item is copied in the usual way. Then with the PowerPoint presentation open in edit mode, you need to choose Edit, Paste Special. In the Paste Special dialogue box, select the option to Paste Link, and click OK to finish. The item appears in your PowerPoint slide as before. If you now change the original Word or Excel item, then return to your PowerPoint slide, you'll find that the item in the slide has updated, because the items are now linked.

You can embed or link an entire file into PowerPoint if you wish. To do this you need to add an object (the chosen Word or Excel file for example). In PowerPoint 2007 use the Insert tab; in PowerPoint 2003 use the Insert menu. Then choose Object. In the Insert Object panel choose Create from File and click Browse to navigate to find your chosen file. If the file is relatively small, don't tick the box for Display as icon - then the whole file will open in PowerPoint. If it's a relatively large file, tick Display as icon. To embed the file (creates a separate unlinked copy) don't tick the link box. To LINK the file you should tick the link box, then click OK to finish.

If you don't tick the Display as Icon box in that process, the entire Word file or first sheet in the Excel file will be displayed in PowerPoint. This may look fine for a relatively small file but not for a large file. So if you tick the icon Display as Icon, you'll only see the Word or Excel icon in your slide, and of course you can only double click the icon on the PowerPoint slide to open the file, from PowerPoint edit view only.

The advantage of linking is that the item in your PowerPoint slide always follows updates made in your source file. When you open your PowerPoint file in the future you'll always see a dialogue box appearing asking you if you want to update links - this way PowerPoint will update any changes made in the original source file even with the source file closed.

The price you pay for linking is that you mustn't rename or move the original file, because if you do, PowerPoint will be unable to update the links. However if you know the new location/name of the source file you can manually update the PowerPoint link.

To really get to grips with linking and embedding objects, consider attending a Microsoft Office training course to take your understanding further. The best courses let you ask questions which particularly interest you as well as following a planned agenda.