Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Embedding an Excel Chart in a Word Document.

Embedding an Excel Chart in a Word Document

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 15, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

Most of the time, Microsoft Office applications work fairly well together. For instance, Word allows you to embed a chart directly from Excel into a document. This is done in the following manner:

Select the Excel chart you wish to embed in your Word document. (Make sure you select the entire chart, and not just a portion of it.)
Press Ctrl+C to copy the chart to the Clipboard.
Switch to the Word document.
Position the insertion pointer where you want the chart placed.
Display the Home tab of the ribbon.
Click the down arrow under the Paste tool, and then choose Paste Special. Word displays the Paste Special dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Paste Special dialog box.

Select the Microsoft Excel Chart Object as the preferred method of pasting.
Make sure the Paste Link radio button is selected.
Click on OK. Word inserts the linked chart in your document.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (10100) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Embedding an Excel Chart in a Word Document.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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