When including data from another program in a Word document, you can decide how you want the information linked, embedded, or otherwise presented. Word also has capabilities to open and convert files from other programs. The following articles explain everything Word has to offer for compatibility with other programs.

Tips, Tricks, and Answers

The following articles are available for the 'Other Programs' topic. Click the article''s title (shown in bold) to see the associated article.

   Changing Many Link Locations
Word makes it easy to establish links between documents. If you need to change the locations for a lot of links at once, you can apply the technique outlined in this tip.

   Converting a PDF File to a Word Document
PDF files seem to be everywhere; they are a standard way of exchanging documents with others. At some point you may want to convert an existing PDF document into a Word document. This tip discusses various ways you can accomplish the task.

   Converting Automatic Numbering to Manual Numbering
The automatic numbering that Word lets you apply to paragraphs in your document can create some great looking content, but it can play havoc with your file if you import it into another program. Here's how to get rid of the automatic numbering, but still retain the numbers.

   Creating an Excel Workbook from within Word
Word and Excel are both programs within the Microsoft Office suite. If you use both of these programs often, you may wonder if it is possible to create an Excel workbook while you are working within Word.

   Creating Documents that Don't Use Embedded Fonts
Creating a PDF file from a Word document is easier than it used to be. Getting that PDF to contain exactly what you want (or don't want) can still be a bit tricky, though. Here are some ideas on making sure that your PDFs don't contain any unwanted font information.

   Dates Updating when Converting
Word allows you to convert documents from WordPerfect format to Word. In doing so, you may notice that some dates in the original documents are updated. This tip discusses some possible causes and what you can do about it.

   Embedding an Excel Chart in a Word Document
Word and Excel usually work pretty well together. This means that you can easily paste charts from Excel into your Word documents. Here's how to go about doing the pasting.

   Embedding an Excel Worksheet
Word and Excel are both integral parts of Microsoft's Office suite of applications. As such, Word allows you to embed worksheet information directly in your documents. Here's how.

   Hyperlinking to a Specific Excel Worksheet
Creating a hyperlink to an Excel workbook is easy. With the information in this tip you can discover how to hone that hyperlink so that it goes right to the place you need in the workbook.

   Inserting a Multi-Page PDF File in a Word Document
Over the decades, Word has always had a rather tenuous relationship with PDF files. Echoes and evidences of this tenuous relationship are on full display when you try to insert a PDF file in your document. This tip provides all the information you need to understand how to insert PDF files and the workarounds you can use if you want to insert multi-page PDF files.

   Linking to Slides in PowerPoint
If you are preparing a document that references a presentation you created in PowerPoint, you may want to reference in the document certain slides from the presentation. You can easily create links to the slides by following the steps in this tip.

   Maintaining Destination Formatting on a Linked Excel Table
Word, as part of the Microsoft Office Suite, allows you to link data from other programs in the suite. If you link an Excel table into a Word document, you may notice that maintaining formatting on that table can be a bit trick. Here's the key to better formatting of your linked data.

   Maintaining Leading Zeroes
When merging ZIP Codes from a data source such as Excel, you might find that Word ends up dropping out leading zeroes in the ZIP Codes. Here's how you can make sure that those digits are not dropped.

   Making Phone Numbers into Active Links
Want to use phone numbers in your documents and have those numbers be clickable links? This tip discusses all the ins and outs of making that happen successfully.

   Merging Only a Date from Access
When you are merging data from an Access database, you may get more information than you want, especially when it comes to times and dates. There are two potential solutions to this problem, both of which are detailed in this tip.

   Reading a PDF Newsletter on a Cell Phone
Sometimes creating a Word document is just the first step. Often you'll want to then convert it to a PDF file that can be used by others. This can present some challenging issues depending on where the PDF file will ultimately be used.

   Transposing Table Contents
When you transpose information, it is essentially "rotated" in a direction. If you transpose the information in a table, then the rows become columns and the columns become rows. This cannot be done directly in Word, but you can accomplish it if you work in conjunction with Excel.

   Unexpected Error Exporting a PDF
It is common for people to create PDF files from their Word documents. What can you do, though, if your standard way of creating PDFs doesn't produce the desired results?

   Unlinking an Excel Chart Automatically
When Excel charts are linked in a Word document, they update every time the document is opened. Here's how to unlink the chart and prevent automatic updating.

   Very Slow Document Opening with Excel Links
When you link parts of your document to other sources (such as an Excel workbook), you can make opening your document much slower. This tip looks at some ideas you can check to speed up document opening.

   Working with Document Links
Word makes it easy to establish links between documents. Here's how to change and manage those links easily.