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Tables and spreadsheets - Word 2010

If you have a small amount of data, it’s probably best to organize the data in a Word table. Details on creating tables are given in the Word help, and online tutorials are available through Microsoft.

Landscape orientation for tables

Some tables are better suited to display on pages with landscape orientation. To change a single page or group of pages to landscape orientation, follow these steps:

  1. Click at the point where you want to begin landscape orientation.
  2. On the Page Layout tab, click Breaks, and then click Section Breaks (Next Page). Press the Enter key, several times to create some space.
  3. On the Page Layout tab, under Orientation, click Landscape.
  4. On the Page Layout tab, click Margins, and then click Custom Margins.
  5. On the Page Setup window, under Preview, pull down the Apply to: menu and click This section.
  6. Click OK to close the Page Setup dialog box.
  7. If you haven’t done so already, insert the table.
  8. Click at the point where you want to end landscape orientation
  9. On the Page Layout tab, click Breaks, and then click Section Breaks (Next Page).
  10. Click at point just below the section break you inserted in Step 9.
  11. On the Page Layout tab, under Orientation, click Portrait.
  12. On the Page Setup window, under Preview, pull down the Apply to: menu and click This point forward.
  13. Click OK to close the Page Setup dialog box.

Repeat these steps for each section with landscape pages in your document.

Excel spreadsheets

If you have an extensive amount of data, chances are you used Excel to create one or more spreadsheets. It is possible to copy Excel spreadsheets and insert them into a Word document. For very large spreadsheets, however, consider submitting the spreadsheet as a separate supplemental file.

Follow the steps below to insert your Excel spreadsheet in Word. You need to have Excel 2007 installed on your computer.

  1. In Excel, select and copy the cells you want to insert.
  2. In Word, click where you want to insert the data.

At this point, there are several options for how you can paste the data:

Option 1: Put your Excel data within a Word table and edit contents of the table in Word. Any changes you make in Word will not be reflected in the original Excel spreadsheet.

  1. On the Home tab, click Paste.
  2. On the Paste Options menu icon (displayed below the pasted data), select Keep Source Formatting or Match Destination Formatting. You may need to try both options and select the one that looks best.

Option 2: Retain your Excel formatting and display a snapshot of the current content of the spreadsheet. You can edit the contents of the table after it is pasted into Word.

  1. On the Home tab, click Paste and select Paste Special.
  2. In the Paste Special Dialog box, make sure the Paste radio button is selected.
  3. Click Microsoft Office Excel Worksheet Object.
  4. Click OK.

Option 3: This will retain your Excel formatting. Changes you make in Excel will automatically be reflected in Word.

  1. On the Home tab, click Paste Special.
  2. In the Paste Special window, select the Paste Link radio button.
  3. Click Microsoft Office Excel Worksheet Object.
  4. Click OK.

To make changes to the contents of the table, follow these steps:

  1. Open the spreadsheet in Excel. Make the edits and save the file.
  2. In Word, click on the table to select it.
  3. Right-click and select Update Link.

The table in Word will now show the edits you made in Excel.