Excel Word Link - part table Excel to Word, part Word to Excel

[dslhs]

Hello,

I have a feeling the answer may be no, but I'm looking to create a table - linked between Excel and Word - where part of the table is Excel data -> Word, and the other part is Word -> Excel.

I would like my staff to enter comments against each student, but have been told by many that they find it difficult to do so in Excel.

I would like to create a table in Excel that contains all the student data - dynamically - that links to a Word document, where the staff can write in their comments. The comments would then link back to the Excel document and input it into the table.

Here is an example:

The green columns would be dynamic data from another sheet in Excel

The blue columns would be inputted in from Word. The data from Excel would have to be linked to make sure the comments are against the right student.

Student	Year Group	Assessment Group	Comment	On Track	Target
Student A	7	1	This student has worked well in...	On Track	Student A's target is to...
Student B	8	1	This student has worked well in...	On Track	Student B's target is to...
Student C	9	2	This student has worked well in...	Not On Track	Student C's target is to...
Student D	9	2	This student has worked well in...	On Track	Student D's target is to...
Student E	10	3	This student has worked well in...	On Track	Student E's target is to...
Student F	11	3	This student has worked well in...	On Track	Student F's target is to...

I can paste link the green columns into word, but there is no way of writing in the comments from word and having it link back. I can't add another column for comments to the linked table, and when I paste link some blank rows and type, it does not link back to the Excel spreadsheet. The link is only in one direction. The same seems to be the other way too.

Also, is there a way of making the 'On Track' columns a drop-down in word that would link back to Excel?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[dslhs]

Is this not possible?

 

[NdNoviceHlp]

I'll suggest that it is possible for the most part, just not the way you have suggested. There is mailmerge which I believe would only "link" from XL to Word. It seems that you could create the table in XL and then paste it into Word. Have the user fill out the relevant table sections in Word and then extract that information back to XL from the Word document. No real links... just storing and transferring info all with VBA from XL. Not dynamic but does it really need to be? Formatting the table in Word would probably be the most difficult portion. The drop down thing link doesn't seem doable. If you search my threads for table, you will find quite a few examples of how to transfer info to and from Word tables from XL. HTH. Dave