Microsoft® Excel® 2010 Inside Out

Embedding vs. Linking

When you embed another application’s data in Microsoft Excel 2010, your workbook stores a complete copy of the source data. Because you have a complete copy (a paragraph from Microsoft Word 2010, for example, or a voice annotation created in a sound-recording program), that information remains intact even if the source is destroyed or becomes otherwise unavailable. But the embedded copy is independent of the source. The source might change, but the embedded copy does not.

When you link your Excel 2010 workbook to external data, the workbook records a pointer to the source of that data; if the source data changes, your workbook changes accordingly. Whether it changes automatically to match the source or only when you request ...