Applies to:
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If you're writing a document, and you want to include related files, you can embed them so they're easily accessible. You can also make it appear as an icon.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Basic Usage
First, select the area of the document where you wish to embed a file.
On the ribbon, go to the Insert tab, and select Object.
You will be shown a menu. This is only to be used if you're creating a brand new file (see Advanced Usage below).
In most cases, you will probably want to embed a file that already exists. Select the Create from File tab.
First, click Browse, and select the file you wish to embed. This could be a file on your computer, in your OneDrive, or in a SharePoint library which you've synced to your computer. Next, tick the Display as icon checkbox - otherwise, the contents of your file will be displayed in full as part of your document.
By default, the icon will take into account the file type of your object - so, for example, a PDF will display the default PDF icon. Changing this is a little more advanced, so scroll to the end if you're interested.
When you're finished, the form should look something like this:
Click OK, and the file will appear in your document as an 'object'. If you were to double-click the object, it would open as expected - so our PDF from before would open in Acrobat Reader, for example.
You have now embedded a file. If you want to know more, read on for information about other object features.
Advanced Usage
Create New: By default, when you insert an object, you'll see the following window:
This allows you to create a new file from scratch, and embed it directly into your document. Let's try that now. Select Microsoft Word Document from the list, and click OK.
A new window will open; this is your embedded document. Whatever you type in here will show up embedded in your original document. Type some text, then save this document, and return to your original document.
This document is now displayed as an embedded object. There is also an option to embed new files as an icon, if you wish.
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Link to File: Using this option, you can link an object to an external file if you do not wish to embed it into your document.
When you embed a file into a document, it becomes part of the same file. Let's say we have a document called Doc1, and a PDF called File1.
If we embed File1 into Doc1, and then attach Doc1 to an email, anyone else who opens Doc1 will be able to access File1 without any additional steps. All they will need is Doc1.
If we link to File1, and want to send everything in an email, we will need to attach both Doc1 and File1.
So, why would we do this? The main use case is if File1 is due to be changed or updated. If it was embedded into Doc1, we would need to remove it and embed it again every time it was changed. However, linking to it means that it will always show the most up-to-date version of File1.
You could also use this to send one version of Doc1 to multiple recipients, but only attach the linked files that they needed to see, thereby cutting down on file sizes and ensuring that the information you're sending is only going to the right people. There are more efficient ways of doing this, but that's just another example.
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Change Icon: You can change the icon of an object if you wish. You can only use Windows icons. This means that you can't use any image you have lying around, and will only accept specific image formats.
By default, there are only two different icons available. To get additional icons, click Browse and then, under File Name, copy and paste one of the following lines:
- "C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll"
- "C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll"
- "C:\Windows\System32\pifmgr.dll"
- "C:\Windows\System32\wmploc.DLL"
If you would like additional icons to be made available, please let us know!