OLE (pronounced
oh-lay ), for Object Linking and Embedding, lets you insert self-updating material from a source document in one program into a target document running in another. If you insert an Excel spreadsheet as a linked object into a Word document, for example, any changes that you make to the spreadsheet separately in Excel appear in the Word document automatically.
To insert an OLE object:
1. Open or create a document in a program that supports OLE (WordPad, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, for example).
2. Click or move the cursor to where you want the inserted object to appear.
3. Choose Insert > Object.
This command may appear elsewhere in non-Microsoft programs.
4. In the Object dialog box, choose the object type and link type that you want to create (Figure 1.55 ).
5. Click OK.
You can cut, copy, and paste OLE objects. To delete one, click it and then press Delete.
To edit an OLE object, double-click it. If it's linked to a file, the document opens in its own window. If it's not linked, the source program's menus appear in place of the current program's menus; click off the object or press Esc when you're done editing, and the original menus reappear.
After editing a linked object, you may have to "encourage" it to update itself. Select it and then use the program's Update function (the F9 key in Microsoft Office programs).