An Easy Way To Insert Symbols In Spreadsheets

Q. I want to insert graphics in my spreadsheet to illustrate some of the numbers. But it’s a real pain to locate and insert clip art. Is there a better option?

A. There sure is. Here’s a situation where a suite—an office suite—is sweet. Word comes to the aid of Excel. As you probably know, Word has many neat symbols and art that you can easily insert into a document. Excel, on the other hand, is not so well endowed. But because Word and Excel are components of the Office suite, it’s a snap to copy the symbols from one application and drop them into the other.

Here’s how: Open a blank Word document and the Excel worksheet in which you want the graphics to appear. You can switch back and forth between the two by holding down the Alt key and pressing Tab. If you have other apps open, that keystroke will rotate through each one in sequence.

In Word, click on Insert, Symbol . That evokes the Symbol screen.

After clicking on the Font arrow, you can choose from hundreds of different symbols. Highlight the one you want and click on Insert; that will copy the symbol onto the Word page. Then highlight the symbol in the Word document and copy it (Ctrl+C) or cut it (Ctrl+X) and paste it (Ctrl+V) in the Excel worksheet.