Inserting Tables with Outareas into MS Word
Last updated on 2026-02-03
Overview
Excel tables and the Outareas defined in them provide the data for the tables in the result documents. The Outareas created in MS Excel can be transferred to a Word document using the Word ribbon.
To transfer tables from Excel spreadsheets to Word documents, they must be part of an Outarea defined in the Excel file (see Defining Outareas).
This article contains the following sections:
Inserting Tables
To insert the Outarea of an Excel table into a Word document:
Open the cockpit.
Click the desired Word document in the cockpit or choose MS Word | Open Word file in the menu of the three dots icon:
Place the cursor at the desired position in the Word document.
In the Word ribbon, click Insert Table:
The Table configuration dialog is displayed:
Configure the dialog (see following sections) and click Save.
Options in the 'Table configuration' Dialog
Options in the ‘Table overview’ section
The following options are available in the Table configuration dialog in the Table overview area:
Name
Description
Document
The document that contains the desired table. The corresponding reference year is displayed in front of the name of the individual documents.
Chapter
The Chapter, from which an Outarea is to be inserted into a Word document. All chapters of the selected document to which an Excel file is assigned are displayed.
Outarea
Outarea to be inserted into the Word document. As soon as a chapter is selected, the Outareas available in the Excel file are listed in the Outarea drop-down list.
Insert table
Inserts the selected Outarea into the Word document.
Options in the ‘Layout Configuration’ section
The following options are available in the Table configuration dialog in the Layout configuration area:
Option
Description
No template
Default setting. No template is used for the table to be inserted.
Use template
Loads the values of the selected template and uses them for the current table.
Start from scratch
Table width: The absolute width of the table in cm, e.g. 15.5. Equivalent to the Preferred width table property in MS Word.
Table indent: The indent the table in cm, e.g. 2. Equivalent to the Indent from left table property in MS Word.
Double tab position: Moves the number in the table by the specified factor in order to ensure the numbers wrap around existing footnotes or brackets, for example. This value is specified in cm, e.g. - 0.2 would move the numbers 2 mm to the left.
In the example below, negative numbers are written in brackets in MS Excel. This has resulted in the numbers no long being positioned below one another (left-hand column). Entering a double tab in MS Excel will realign the numbers so they are below one another again (right-hand column):
First double tab column: Numerical value indicating which column should be the first to include a double tab.
First layout column: Numerical value indicating which column should be treated as the first layout column. Layout columns are empty columns created between value columns in MS Excel.
Layout columns are used purely for aesthetic reasons.
If a column does not contain any content and its width is <= 0.5 px, the layout robot will register it as a layout column.
Do not separate paragraphs: Presents paragraph breaks in the table, ensuring it stays together as intended.
Invert zebra pattern: Inverts the pattern of alternating colors used in a table (e-g- each white column is followed by a gray one, etc.).
Do not apply double tab to percentage values: The position of the double tab entered under the Double Tab position option is not applied to percent values.
Column width
Generic column widths: Combination of fixed and calculated column widths.
For example, you can enter the widths for number columns and layout columns (in cm). The width of the name column is then calculated automatically.
- Number column width: Width of number column in cm
- Layout column width: Width of layout column in cm
Fixed column width: Fixed column width in cm
Table alignment
Sets the alignment of the table.
Text wrapping relative to the table
Determines whether the surrounding text is wrapped around or placed as a new paragraph.
Add as a template
Saves the current settings as a template.
Reset to default
Resets all settings to their default values.
- The report values in the table are updated each time the Word document is used (e.g. when checking out or creating a result document).
- You can also update the values using the Update button in the Word ribbon.
- Report values cannot be changed in the Word file itself, but must be adjusted in the data view or in the corresponding Excel file.