Insert text or data from another document without using cut-and-paste
Updated on November 21, 2021
What to Know
- Insert a document within Word by going to Insert > Object > Text from File. Select a file and choose Insert.
- Insert a portion of a document by going to Insert > Object > Text from File and selecting a file. Adjust Range to choose a portion.
A common method to insert text into a Microsoft Word document is to cut and paste it. This works well for short pieces of text. When you want to insert an entire document or a lengthy section of a document, there’s a quicker solution than the cut-and-paste method. Instructions in this article apply to Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2019, Word 2016, Word 2013, and Word 2010.
Add Another Document to a Word Document
Word can add an entire document into your work in a few quick steps.
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Position the cursor where you want to insert the document.
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Go to the Insert tab.
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In the Text group, select the Object drop-down arrow.
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Select Text from File.
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In the Insert File dialog box, select a document file.
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Choose Insert.
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The document is inserted, beginning at the cursor location.
Add a Portion of a Document to a Word Document
If you don’t want to add the entire contents of the file into your Word document, choose which parts of the document or worksheet that you want to insert.
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Place the cursor where you want to insert the text.
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Select Insert > Object > Text from File.
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In the Insert File dialog box, select a document file.
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Select Range.
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In the Set Range dialog box, enter the bookmark name from the Word document, or the range of cells from the Excel worksheet.
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Select OK.
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In the Insert File dialog box, select Insert.
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The portion of the document is inserted, beginning at the cursor location.
Insert a Linked Text in a Document
If the text from the document you’re inserting might change, use linked text that can be updated easily. The linked text option offers a third method to insert a document that updates the document automatically if the original changes.
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Position the cursor where you want to insert the link to the document.
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Go to the Insert tab.
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Select the Object drop-down arrow.
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Choose Object.
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In the Object dialog box, go to the Create from File tab, then select Browse.
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In the Browse dialog box, choose the file to insert, then select Insert.
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In the Object dialog box, select Display as icon to display the inserted file as a clickable icon, rather than display the first page of the file.
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Select OK to insert the linked file
How to Update Linked Text
Because linked data is stored in the source file, linked objects can be updated if the source is changed.
If the text changes in the original document, select the linked text object (the entire text of the insert will be selected), then press F9. This checks the original and updates the inserted text with the changes made to the original.
Only linked text can be updated. Because embedded objects become part of the Word file, these objects are not connected to the source file and do not update.
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This tutorial demonstrates how to import a table from a Word document into Excel or Google Sheets.
Insert Word Document as Object
- With the Excel document open, in the Ribbon, select Insert > Text > Object.
- In the Object dialog box, select Create from File and click Browse.
- In the Browse dialog box, highlight the file to that needs to be inserted into Excel and then click Insert.
- Click OK to insert the file into the active worksheet. If you select the object, the formula bar shows a custom formula indicating that the document is embedded into the Excel file.
=EMBED("Document","")
This means that if you right-click on the object, you can either edit or open the object to amend it.
Selecting Edit in the shortcut menu enables you to edit the object within Excel while selecting Open opens the object in a Word document.
Copy and Paste From a Word Document
- Open the Word document and select the portion of the document – the table – that needs to be inserted into Excel.
- In the Ribbon, select Home > Clipboard > Copy (or press CTRL + C).
- Switch to an open Excel document and then in the Ribbon, select Home > Clipboard > Paste (or press CTRL + V) to paste the selection into Excel.
The contents are pasted in as text enabling you to directly edit the contents in Excel if necessary.
Import a Word Document Into Google Sheets
- Open the Word document and select the portion of the document that needs to be inserted into Excel.
- In the Ribbon, select Home > Clipboard > Copy (or press CTRL + C).
- Open the Google sheet to import the Word document into.
- Position the cursor where the document is to be pasted and then press CTRL + V to paste the information into the Google sheet.
To insert an object, click Object on the Insert tab.
Contents
- 1 Where is the Insert Object tool in Word?
- 2 How do you insert an object in Word?
- 3 Where is the insert object in Word o365?
- 4 What is insert in MS Word?
- 5 How do I open an OLE file in Word?
- 6 How do you insert an object?
- 7 How do I insert multiple objects in Word?
- 8 What are objects in MS Word?
- 9 Which tab is used to insert action button?
- 10 What are the 2 options when inserting an object?
- 11 Why can’t I see insert object in Powerpoint?
- 12 How do I insert an object in Word 2016?
- 13 What object Cannot be insert in a Word document from Insert tab?
- 14 How do I insert an attachment into an icon in Word?
- 15 Where is the Insert tab on the ribbon bar?
- 16 Where on the Insert tab could you add a symbol?
- 17 Where can I find OLE objects in Word?
- 18 How do I fix Ole action in Word?
- 19 Which of the following object can be inserted in your document?
- 20 How do I insert multiple boxes in Word?
You can insert an existing file into a Word document and insert text in Word around it.
- Open Document and Click “Insert”
- Open the Word document and click the “Insert” tab on the ribbon menu at the top of the screen.
- Click the “Object” Button.
- Click the “Object” button in the Text group to open the Object dialog box.
How do you insert an object in Word?
Link or Embed a file
- Go to Insert > Object.
- Select Create from File.
- Select Browse and choose the file you want to use.
- Select Insert.
- Choose Display as icon to embed, or Link to file for a link.
- Select OK.
Where is the insert object in Word o365?
Make sure you have the file you want to attach present on your system. Once the document is open, go to the Insert tab on the ribbon and on the Text toolbox, select the Object button. From the menu that opens, select ‘Object’. A new window will open.
What is insert in MS Word?
Insert is a file menu and Ribbon section in software that allows the user to add something (e.g., picture) into a document or file. For example, in Microsoft Word, the user may use the Insert tab in the Ribbon to insert a picture of themselves into their document. Tip.
How do I open an OLE file in Word?
You have an Excel embedded OLE object inserted into a formal module as an icon.
- Then, export the module to Word using File -> Export -> Microsoft Office -> Word.
- Then, open the Excel OLE.
- It opens on the same Microsoft Word document instead of opening into a ‘new’ window.
How do you insert an object?
Embed an object in a worksheet
- Click inside the cell of the spreadsheet where you want to insert the object.
- On the Insert tab, in the Text group, click Object .
- In the Object dialog box, click the Create from File tab.
- Click Browse, and select the file you want to insert.
How do I insert multiple objects in Word?
2 Answers
- Copy all your files to clipboard (Ctrl + C)
- Open the word document you would like to embed your files and click the keyboard combinatin Ctrl + Alt + V [Paste Special] and choose files option and click OK.
What are objects in MS Word?
An object is a combination of data and the application needed to modify that data. You can thus embed objects in or link them to documents created with a different application. For instance, an Excel spreadsheet can be embedded within a Microsoft Word document using OLE.
Which tab is used to insert action button?
Put an action button on your slide
On the Insert tab, click Shapes, and then under Action Buttons at the bottom of the menu, click the button shape that you want to add.
What are the 2 options when inserting an object?
There are two options to insert objects: Create New: Insert object directly. Select the type of the object you want to insert in the Object type roll-down list. WPS Spreadsheets supports a variety of object types, such as WPS Spreadsheets Workbook, WordPad document, and Microsoft Excel among others.
Why can’t I see insert object in Powerpoint?
When you see only the frames of the object but not the icon, it’s probably because you have turned on the “Show picture placeholders” option. Click “File” tab then “Options” to open the “Word Options” dialog box. Then click “Advanced” on the left pane.
How do I insert an object in Word 2016?
Microsoft Word 2016
- Open the first document.
- Place the cursor where you want the second document to be inserted.
- From the Insert tab, Text group, click on the down arrow next to Object and choose Text from file.
- Select the file to be inserted.
- Click on Insert.
What object Cannot be insert in a Word document from Insert tab?
Discussion Forum
Que. | Which type of file cannot be inserted in a word document via Insert Object option |
---|---|
b. | Bitmap Image |
c. | MP3 file |
d. | Video Clip |
Answer:MP3 file |
How do I insert an attachment into an icon in Word?
On the Insert tab, click the Object button near the right end. In the dialog that opens, click the Create From File tab. Click the Browse button and locate the document file to insert. Check the box for Display As Icon, and click OK.
Where is the Insert tab on the ribbon bar?
second tab
Insert tab:
Insert Tab is the second tab in the Ribbon.
Where on the Insert tab could you add a symbol?
From the Insert command tab, in the Symbols group, click SYMBOL » select More Symbols… The Symbol dialog box appears. The special character appears in your document.
Where can I find OLE objects in Word?
The Document Inspector detects OLE Objects or packages that have been inserted from the Object dialog box (click Insert > Object in your Office application), or by using copy and paste commands.
How do I fix Ole action in Word?
Solution. The solution is generally simple — switch to MathType and close the dialog box. Sometimes it’s not that simple though. What if you see MathType’s icon in the Windows Taskbar, but clicking it doesn’t bring the window up so you can close the dialog?
Which of the following object can be inserted in your document?
The Insert tab contains various items that you may want to insert into a document. These items include such things as tables, word art, hyperlinks, symbols, charts, signature line, date & time, shapes, header, footer, text boxes, links, boxes, equations and so on.
How do I insert multiple boxes in Word?
Go to Insert > Text Box, and then select one of the pre-formatted text boxes from the list, select More Text Boxes from Office.com, or select Draw Text Box.
When working on a document in Word, you may find that you need to insert text from another Word document. Maybe you’re collaborating with others and combining multiple pieces, for example.
RELATED: How to Collaborate on Documents in Real-Time in Office 2016
There is a better way to collaborate on documents in Office 2016, but there may be times when a fellow collaborator needs to work offline and they send you a document to integrate into the main document. So, we’ll show you how to insert the contents of a Word file into another Word file for situations where online collaboration is not an option. (Sure, you could just open the second document and copy and paste its text, but the method below is often faster.)
For the purposes of this article, we’ll call the file being inserted the “source” file and the file into which you are inserting the source file the “target” file.
To insert the contents of a source Word file into a target Word file, open the target document, place the cursor where you want to insert the source file, and then click the “Insert” tab.
In the “Text” section, click the “Object” button and select “Text from File” from the drop-down menu.
The “Insert File” dialog box displays. Navigate to the folder that contains the source file you want to insert and select the file. Then, click “Insert”.
NOTE: You can also insert text from a text (.txt) file.
The entire contents of the source file (text, images, tables, etc.) will be inserted at the cursor in the target document.
When inserting text from a source document that has styles using the same names as in the target document (for example, the “Normal” style), the style in the target document takes precedence. If you want to keep the formatting of the text from the source document, make sure the style applied to that text in the source document has a different name than any of the styles in the target document. So, if you want the text from the source document to look like the text in the target document, such that the formatting is consistent, you’re good. All you have to do is insert the file or part of the file as we described in this article.
You can also insert text from a text (.txt) file, but you have to insert the entire file in that case, because you cannot add bookmarks to text files.
RELATED: How to Reference Text from Other Documents in Microsoft Word
We previously described a trick where can put common content into one Word document and reference it in other Word documents. The content will even automatically update in all your documents if you change it in the common document because the two are linked using a field. That feature is different from inserting files as described in this article because when you insert content from a source file into a target file, there is no link between the source file and the target file. So, when you change the content in the source file that content is not updated in the target file.
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Did you know it is possible to insert a Word document into another Word document? Yes, this is very much possible to accomplish, and it’s not hard to get done either. Most people are more inclined to open the document, copy the content from within it, then paste it into another opened Word document. That’s not a wrong way to do it, but we believe it is more time-consuming from our point of view.
Adding the document to another opened document is the easiest way, and like always, we’re going to explain how to do this in the best way possible.
- Open a Word document
- Select the Insert tab
- Choose Text from File
- Add the Word file to your document
Let us discuss this in more detail, shall we?
1] Open a Word document
The first step to take here is to open a Microsoft Word document. You can do this by firing up the app, then choose which file you want to open.
2] Select the Insert tab
Once the document is opened, you must look to the Ribbon and be sure to click on the Insert tab. You should now see quite a few options to choose from, but you are looking for one in particular.
3] Choose Text from File
Before going down this path, make sure to have an idea of which Text-based document you want to insert. When you’ve finally settled on one, click the down arrow beside the Object icon, then from there, select Text from File.
If you’re confused as to where the Object icon is, well, it can be found close to the Text Box.
4] Add the Word file to your document
After selecting Text from File, a small window will appear, giving you the ability to choose your file. Double-click on the preferred file, then right away, the contents from it will appear in your current document.
You can also do this with PDF documents. Just bear in mind that Microsoft Word will convert such files into a Word format for compatibility reasons.
Read next: How to convert Table to Text and Text to Table in Word.
Vamien has studied Computer Information Services and Web Design. He has over 10 years of experience in building desktop computers, fixing problems relating to Windows, and Python coding.