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While table creation in Microsoft Word has improved over the years, it’s still a troublesome task that sometimes causes more problems than it solves. This is why you should always create your tables in Microsoft Excel instead.
Why It’s Better to Create Tables in Excel
In short, Word is a word processor, and Excel is a data processor. As a result, Word isn’t built for optimal table creation, whereas its sibling, Excel, is.
Here are just a few of the many reasons why creating your table in Excel is a better option than using Microsoft Word:
- Although it’s surprising how many Excel-like functions you can use in Microsoft Word tables, you have many more options in Excel, where functions and formulas also work more intuitively.
- You can use Excel to add depth to your analysis or create more dynamic data displays like pivot tables.
- You can use the tables you put together in Excel to create and format many different types of charts.
- Formatting tables in Excel is much more straightforward than in Word.
The same goes for other Microsoft programs like Outlook and OneNote—none of them come close to competing with Excel when it comes to table creation.
How to Import a Table from Excel into Word
There are two main ways to duplicate an Excel table in Word, and which method you choose depends on what you want to achieve. If you want the table in Word to constantly reflect any changes to the original in Excel, you’ll need to paste it as a linked object. On the other hand, if the data is finalized and you want it to be an independent table in Word, simply copy and paste the data from Excel to Word.
Here are more details about each method.
Copy an Excel Table and Paste It as a Linked Object
The first way to import a table from Excel into Word is to paste it as a linked Excel object. This is the best option if your Excel data is likely to change, and you want the duplicate table in Word to reflect those changes. This method also duplicates all the table’s formatting when it’s pasted into Word.
First, format the table in Excel. The quickest (and best) way to do this is by selecting the data, clicking “Format As Table” in the Styles group of the Home tab on the ribbon, and choosing a style. Excel will also ask you to confirm whether your data has a header row.
You should also consider applying some direct formatting like column width, font size, and text alignment, since the copied version of the table in Word will be identical to the original table you create in Excel.
Hide the filter button in your Excel table via the Table Design tab before you copy it. Otherwise, it’ll show in Word but won’t be usable.
When your table is ready to go, save the Excel source file and the destination Word document. Make sure they’re saved in locations that talk to each other, like folders on a local network or in your OneDrive cloud. Also, ensuring AutoSave is turned on in both programs will help the process to work more smoothly.
Next, select all the data in your Excel table, and press Ctrl+C. Then, head to your Word document, and place your cursor where you want the table to go. Click the “Paste” drop-down arrow in the Home tab, and click “Paste Special.”
In the Paste Special dialog box, check “Paste Link,” choose “Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object,” and click “OK.”
If you don’t want the table to constantly update to reflect the data in the original table, check “Paste” instead. The table will then be pasted as an embedded and editable Excel object.
Your Excel table will now paste in Word as a picture. Resize and reposition it in Word as you would any other image or object, keeping an eye on its proportions and being sure to avoid overstretching it. The best option is to use the handles in the corners of the image, as this keeps the height-width ratio consistent.
With the Word and Excel files still both open, temporarily amend some of the data in the Excel table to see the changes apply immediately in Word.
Each time you reopen the Word document, you’ll be given the option to update the link to the Excel sheet containing the original table. Click “Yes” to ensure your Word document contains the latest version.
As you continue working on your document, to make sure you have the latest version of the Excel table, select it and press F9 to force it to relink and update. You can also double-click the table in Word to reopen the corresponding Excel file.
If you change your Excel table’s formatting, size, or other properties, you’ll need to re-copy and re-paste the data as a linked table to see the alterations reflected in Word.
Use Simple Copying and Pasting
Another way to copy your table from Excel to Word is more straightforward yet less dynamic. Using this method means that once you’ve pasted the table into Word, it becomes a fully independent Microsoft Word table with no Excel foundations.
First, select the original data in Excel, and press Ctrl+C. Then, head to Word, and press Ctrl+V. From this point onwards, any formatting changes to your table will have to be made via Word’s Table Design and Table Layout tabs, bringing us right back to the scenario we were trying to avoid—creating and formatting tables in Word.
To paste the data as an unformatted table and match it to the text styles already used in your Word document, rather than pressing Ctrl+V, click Paste > Use Destination Styles.
What’s more, your table is unlinked from Excel, so you’re limited to using only the functions available in Word.
However, the main benefit of using this method is that the table is fully editable in Word if you need to make minor adjustments to your data, and you can rest assured that the figures won’t change unless you amend them manually. You can also resize the table without worrying about proportions or pixelation.
Excel is also where you can turn tables into charts and format them to look exactly how you wish before pasting them into Word using the same methods outlined in this guide.
