Embedding vs. Linking

Embedding vs. Static Pasting

Embedding and Linking from the Clipboard

Embedding and Linking with the Object Command

Managing Links

Linking vs. Hyperlinking

MICROSOFT long ago stopped using the term object linking and embedding (OLE) to describe its technology for creating “compound” documents—that is, documents that integrate data from multiple applications. But the technology is still there, and if you work with the full suite of Microsoft Office 2010 applications, you will undoubtedly have occasions to take advantage of it.

Part of the reason that OLE has disappeared from Microsoft’s formal vocabulary is that linking and embedding capabilities are nearly universal in major Windows applications now, and it ostensibly works so well that you seldom have to think about what you’re doing. Nevertheless, it is important to understand the general differences between embedding and linking, to know when it’s appropriate to use one form of integration as opposed to the other, and to know how to fix matters in the event that a link becomes broken.