How to Copy Excel Table into Word
(Works Every Time)

Integrating data between Excel and Word can enhance efficiency and professionalism in a report.

By copying Excel’s tables into Word, you get the chance to leverage Excel’s astounding data cleaning and calculation powers combined with Word’s robust document formatting 🎨

In this tutorial, we will see a variety of methods that you can use to copy Excel tables into Word. From copy-pasting to running macros with VBA, we will learn all.

Download our sample workbook below to get real-time insights into transferring Excel tables to Word 🧾

Table of Contents

By copy-pasting in Word

The first and most common method one would think of when copying a table is to use the copy & paste feature. Sure, it works but it has its limitations and is not that effective.

We will, however, see it working below. We have the following sample dataset in Excel that we want to copy to Word.

To copy the above table to Word,

Step 1) Open the Excel workbook and a blank Word document.

Step 2) Press CTRL + A to select the table and then press CTRL + C to copy.

Step 3) In the Word doc place your cursor where you want to paste the table.

Step 4) Press CTRL + V to paste the table.

Excel will paste the table into Word in Keep Source Formatting form and is static – meaning the table won’t be updated in Word if the source table is updated in Excel.

But our work’s not finished yet. Let’s see the different ways you can paste your data in Word.

Step 5) Once you have pasted the table in Word, click on the Paste Options button at the bottom right corner of your table.

Step 6) A small dropdown will appear 😃

Step 7) You can see six different types of document-pasting icons – the first one is selected by default. It retains the source formatting as it is.

Step 8) The second icon uses the destination style – which is of the word – to paste the table.

Step 9) The third icon keeps source formatting and links the table to the source table. This means if you make a change in the source table, it will also be reflected in the destination table.

Step 10) The fourth icon links to the source table but keeps the formatting of the destination style as seen in the second type.

Step 11) The fifth icon pastes the table as a picture. You can’t make any changes to it.

Step 12) The sixth icon only pastes the text from the table – it doesn’t include the borders or formatting.

You can use any of these options as it fits right 😃

By linking the table in Word

If you want your table in the Word file to be dynamic, you can link it to the source table. The process is straightforward and we use Paste Special powers for this purpose.

We will use the same sample data as earlier.

To link the table in Word,

Step 1) Open the Excel workbook and a blank Word document.

Step 2) Press CTRL + A to select the table and CTRL + C to copy data.

Step 3) In the Word doc place your cursor where you want to paste the table.

Step 4) Go to the Home tab and click on the Paste button arrow from the Clipboard section.

Step 5) From the dropdown, select Paste Special.

Step 6) The Paste Special dialog box will appear.

Step 7) On the left side, select Paste link from the options.

Step 8) Under the As box, select Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object.

Step 9) Press Ok.

And it’s done! Paste Special will paste the copied table in your Word doc and update it in real-time.

Double click the table to go straight to the Excel spreadsheet 📗

By embedding file in Word

Another method you can use to copy tables in Word is to embed your Excel document in Word. In the above method, we saw how you can link the two files.

In embedding the Excel file, you won’t need to use both files. You will only have the Word file and the sheet will be embedded in it.

You will be able to access and use the Excel file directly from the Word file at any time.

We have the same sample dataset as seen earlier.

To embed the Excel file in MS Word,

Step 1) Open the Word doc.

Step 2) Select the position where you want to insert the table.

Step 3) Go to the Insert tab and select the Object button from the Text section.

Step 4) The Object dialog box will appear.

Step 5) Since we already have the Excel file created, select the second tab Create from file.

Step 6) Under File Name, click on Browse to locate the Excel file.

Step 7) Once you select it, its path in your computer will be displayed in the box 💻

Pro tip

If you want the Excel file to appear as an icon in the Word doc, select Display as an icon from the options below. Or if you want it to appear as an image with a link to the original file, choose Link to file. If you choose neither of the two options, Excel will create it as a link to the file by default.

Step 8) Press Ok.

And it’s done! The selected Excel file will appear in your selected position in the Word file as:

By linking image in Word

If you prefer having an image of your Excel table in your Word doc but keep it linked to the original file too, then this method is for you.

It creates a picture of the table and pastes it in Word and double-clicking the picture will take you straight to the source table 🔗

We will use the same sample dataset as earlier.

To create a linked image in Word,

Step 1) Select the dataset you want to copy.

Step 2) Press CTRL + C to copy it.

Step 3) Place the cursor in the Word doc where you want to paste the table.

Step 4) Go to the Home tab and click on the Paste button arrow from the Clipboard section.

Step 5) From the dropdown, select Paste Special.

Step 6) The Paste Special dialog box will appear.

Step 7) On the left side, select Paste link from the options.

Step 8) Under the As box, select Pictures (Windows Metafile).

Step 9) Press Ok.

And it’s done! Paste Special will paste the table in Word as an image.

Cool, no? 😀

By VBA in Word

You can also use VBA to automate copying tables from Excel to Word. It lets you create a macro that copies the table from Excel and pastes it to the specified location.

We have the same sample data as earlier. Let’s see how to work with VBA below.

Step 1) Press Alt + F11 on your keyboard in the Excel file.

Step 2) The Visual Basic editor will appear.

Step 3) Select Module from the Insert tab.

Step 4) Paste the following code into the window.

Step 5) Close the window.

Step 6) Press Alt + F8 to open the Macros window.

Step 7) Select the CopyTableToWord macro and press Run 🏃‍♀️

Step 8) The Macro will open a Save As prompt with the Word file name as Excel Table.

Step 9) Press Ok.

And it’s done! Excel will create a new file and paste the table in that file as:

How fantastic is that? 😀

Conclusion

In this guide, we saw different ways one can use to copy Excel tables to Word. This is mostly done when you are creating a report or a document and you need statistics to support your report.

You can copy the table from Microsoft Excel, or put it as an image in Word. If you want a more dynamic solution, you can link your table or embed it in the Word document 📑

VBA is an option too but for beginners, it might be a bit too advanced. Paste Special helps in this matter as it is easy to understand and works faster.

To learn more about tables in Excel, embedding and VBA, read our articles below.

How to Remove Table Formatting in Excel – Without Losing Data

How to Mail Merge from Excel to Word: Step-by-Step (2024)

The Best Ways to Insert PDF into Excel: Step-by-Step (2024)

We hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as we did crafting it! 🤗