Creating Linked or Embedded Objects in Windows Vista

The way you link or embed an object depends on the application programs you're using-the program into which you want to embed or link the object. Most programs have a menu command to create an object by using OLE, but you may have to use the online help system to find the command. In Microsoft Word, for instance, you can use Home Paste Paste Special to create an object by using OLE. When using Home Paste Paste Special in Microsoft Word or its equivalent in another program (usually Edit | Paste Special), you may see the Display As Icon option. This option allows you to create a package, an icon that, when clicked, opens the object in its native application. The following two techniques may also work to link or embed an object: dragging-and-dropping and using Home | Paste | Paste Special. Neither technique is supported by all applications.


Embedding an Object by Dragging-and-Dropping
The easiest way to embed an object is to drag the information from one program and drop it in the other program. For this method to work, both applications must support drag-and-drop embedding. Check the documentation for the program that contains the information you want to embed. When dragging the information you want to embed, use the same technique you use to copy selected information within the application (some applications require you to hold down the CTRL key while dragging the information). For instance, in Excel, you have to click-and-drag the border of the selected area to move or copy it. Follow these steps to use drag-and-drop embedding:

1. Select the information you want to embed.

2. Use drag-and-drop to drag the selected information to the other application; use the same drag-and-drop technique you use to copy information within an application. If the second application isn't visible on the screen, you can drag the information to the application's taskbar button-hold the mouse pointer there for a second, and the application window opens.

3. Drop the information where you want it; if the application supports OLE, you automatically create an embedded object.


Linking or Embedding an Object Using Paste Special
You may want a little more control over the object than you have when you drag-and-drop it. To achieve more control over the object, use the Home | Paste | Paste Special command found in many applications. The procedure is much like using the Clipboard to cut-and-paste, except you paste by using OLE instead, as follows:

1. Select the information you want to link or embed.

2. Press CTRL-C or CTRL-X to copy or cut the information (or use another method to copy or cut).

3. Move the cursor where you want the object to appear.

4. Choose Home | Paste | Paste Special, choose the correct application from the choices displayed. Make sure to choose the application you want to use to edit, that is Microsoft Office Excel. If you choose another option, you won't be using OLE-instead, you will be using the Clipboard to do a simple paste of information from one application to another.

5. Choose the correct setting either to embed the object in the new file or to link the two files together. To embed the object, choose the Paste option; to link the object, choose the Paste Link option.

6. Change the Display As Icon check box setting, if necessary. If you choose to display the object as an icon, you don't see the information itself. Instead, you create a packaged object that shows the information it contains only when you open its icon.

7. Click OK to link or embed the object. You see the object in the container file.


Editing a Linked or Embedded Object
Editing a linked or embedded object is simple-in most applications, you just double-click the object. For other applications, you may need to right-click the object to display a menu with an Edit option or change modes so you are in Edit mode (if you're having trouble, check the help system of the application containing the object). Once you figure out how to edit the object, the object's application opens. Next, the menu and toolbars of the window in which the object appears are replaced by the menu and toolbars of the application assigned by the Registry to that file type (usually the application used to create the object). In other words, if you're editing an Excel object in a Word document, double-click the object to display Excel's menu and toolbars in Word's window. You can edit the object by using that application's tools. When you're done, click outside the object to reinstate the regular menu and toolbars, or choose File | Update or Exit in some applications. If you're asked whether you want to update the object, answer Yes.

If the object is linked rather than embedded, you can also edit the object by editing the source file itself. If the file containing the object is also open, you may have to update it manually to see the new information in the object. Closing and opening the file containing the object may be the easiest way to update the object. To delete an object, click it to select it-you'll probably see a box around it-and then press the DELETE or BACKSPACE key.

Source of Information : Windows Vista The Complete Reference