field = to

[Joanne]

I have an excel table in my document.
It lists invoice numbers and their amounts, then gives me a total.
What I would like to do is make a field in my doc = to the total
generated by the excel table.
Looking at insert/fields I don't know whether to use doc automation,
links and references, equations and formulas or if none of the above
are correct.
Please give me some help on this problem
Thanks a bunch ahead of time
Joanne

 

[Jezebel]

Select and copy the total within the embedded sheet.
Select the location in the document where you want the total to appear.
Click Edit > PasteSpecial. Check 'Paste Link' and select 'Unformatted text'
from the 'As' list.

You'll end up with a field that looks something like --

{ LINK Word.Document "C:\\MyFolder\\MyFile.doc" "OLE_LINK1" \a \t }

This will update automatically when the embedded sheet changes.

 

[Joanne]

Thanks for your prompt help. You have made my life that much easier.

 

[Joanne]

Jezebel
Here is my link, which is not updating when I make changes:
{LINK Excel Sheet 8 "C:\\Documents and Settings\Joanne\\My
Documents\\non-discount.doc" "_1215402019!Sheet1!R8C2" \a \t

Can you see where I might have made a mistake that is causing it to
not update?
And while I have your busy attention, is there a way to pass the cell
addr from the excel sheet as a variable to the link so that if the
list happens to be longer, it will still update?

Thanks for your time
Joanne

 

[Jezebel]

First: don't know why your link isn't updating. The _121... bit is a
Word-generated bookmark. When I tried it, I got a reference like that with
the document not saved, replaced by OLE_LINK1 (which is also an automatic
bookmark) when the document was saved.
Did you try updating fields?

As for making the cell reference variable: in principle you should be able
to name the cell, then use the cell name in place of the "R8C2" -- this
certainly works from a linked workbook. Never tried it with an embedded
sheet.

 

[Joanne]

The error I am getting is:
Objects in this document contain links to files that cannot be found.
The linked information will not be updated.

The field does not update auto at all, but if I do Select All, then
F9, it will update - but only once. If I make another change it will
give me the above error.

Thought of putting a command button on the doc and code it to update
when changes are completed and the button is manually pushed, but not
sure how to code it and also, the button prints out on the doc and
this is not a good thing. Could find no place in buttons properties to
cause it to be visible = false at print time.

I read at word.mvps.org/FAQS/ to set tools>Options>print to 'update
fields' and it should update on print preview, but it does not work
there either.

The FAQ also says to do Tools>Options>General and set "update
automatic links at open" but states that this method is not really
reliable - Seems to me that none of these things are reliable.

Any ideas?
Thank you
Joanne

 

[Jezebel]

Did you create the field by inserting it as a field, or by using
PasteSpecial?

If you created it manually, the message is telling you that there is some
error with the file name -- note that backslashes have to be doubled.

 

[Joanne]

I created the field by using Paste Special, Unformatted Text, and
Paste Link as you instructed. When I look at the field, there are \\
thruout the link address except at the end where it has the \a \t.
BTW, would you tell me what the \a and \t are for?

I have moved the file to my laptop and here it still does not update
automatically, but will repeatedly update using Ctrl+A, and F9.

Go figure - I'm sure I haven't a clue what is happening. I think if
Ctrl+a and F9 will continue to be reliable, I will just record a macro
and then put a command on the toolbar and let it go at that, unless
you have some other idea that would make it go automatically.

As always, thanks for considering my request. Your time is
appreciated.

 

[Jezebel]

\a = update automatically
\t = insert as unformatted text

These are called 'switches' - for future reference, you can find the
switches for a field by looking up the field code in Help.