---
title: "Inserting Outareas into a Word Document"
description: "MS 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."
source_url: https://support.lucanet.com/en/documentation/disclosure-management/work-with-msoffice/configure-word-file/insert-outarea-in-worddocument
language: en
last_updated: 2026-05-01
---
# Inserting Tables with Outareas into MS Word

## 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**.

> **Warning:** To transfer tables from Excel spreadsheets to Word documents, they must be part of an **Outarea** defined in the Excel file (see [Defining Outareas](https://support.lucanet.com/en/documentation/disclosure-management/work-with-msoffice/excel-files-disclmgmt/define-outareas.md)).

## Inserting Tables

How you insert the **Outarea** of an Excel table into a Word document depends on the selected MS Office variant.

### Office for the Web and Office Native

To insert a table in **Office for the Web** and **Office Native**:

1. Open the desired Word file from the [cockpit](https://support.lucanet.com/en/documentation/disclosure-management/cockpit-disclmgmt.md).

2. Place the cursor at the desired position in the Word document.

3. On the **DM-Content** tab of the Word ribbon, click **Insert table/chart**.

        The **Insert table** task pane is displayed on the right:

    ![The 'Insert table' task pane in Office for the Web, with the 'Document', 'Chapter', and 'Outarea' drop-down lists and the 'Use Excel number format' checkbox.](https://support.lucanet.com/assets/docs-images/disclosure-management/work-with-msoffice/configure-word-file/insert-outarea-in-worddocument/_images/en/ofw_insert_tables.png)
    'Insert table' task pane in Office for the Web and Office Native

4. Configure the options (see the following table) and then click **Insert**.

The **Insert table** task pane offers the following options in Office for the Web and Office Native:

| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Document | The **document** that contains the desired table. |
| Chapter | The **chapter** from which an Outarea is to be inserted into the Word document. |
| Outarea | The **Outarea** to be inserted into the Word document. |
| Use Excel number format | Applies the number format stored in the Excel file to the inserted table. |
| Insert | Inserts the selected Outarea into the Word document. |

> **Note:** All further functions available in **Office for Desktop** will soon also be available in **Office for the Web** and **Office Native**.

> **Note:** In **Office for the Web** and **Office Native**, you can highlight the tables inserted into the Word document: on the **DM-Content** tab, click **Set** and select the **Disclosure-Management-Tabellen** or **Nicht-Disclosure-Management-Tabellen** entry. Use the **Remove** button to remove the highlight again (see [Ribbons for MS Office for the Web](https://support.lucanet.com/en/documentation/disclosure-management/work-with-msoffice/ribbons-disclosure-mgmt/ribbons-office-for-web.md#highlight)).

### Office for Desktop

To insert a table in **Office for Desktop**:

1. Open the [cockpit](https://support.lucanet.com/en/documentation/disclosure-management/cockpit-disclmgmt.md).

2. Click the desired Word document in the cockpit or choose **MS Word | Open Word file** in the menu of the **three dots icon**:

    ![Opening a Word file from the Cockpit](https://support.lucanet.com/assets/docs-images/disclosure-management/work-with-msoffice/configure-word-file/insert-outarea-in-worddocument/_images/en/cockpit-open-wordfile.png)
    Opening a Word file from the Cockpit

3. Place the cursor at the desired position in the Word document.

4. In the Word ribbon, click **Insert Table**:

    ![Displays the Word ribbon. The 'Insert table/Diagram' button is outlined in red.](https://support.lucanet.com/assets/docs-images/disclosure-management/work-with-msoffice/configure-word-file/insert-outarea-in-worddocument/_images/en/wordribbon-insert-tables.png)
    Inserting tables and/or diagrams using the Word ribbon

    The **Table configuration** dialog is displayed:

    ![Displays the 'Table configuration' dialog. The dialog contains sample values for document, chapter, and Outarea.](https://support.lucanet.com/assets/docs-images/disclosure-management/work-with-msoffice/configure-word-file/insert-outarea-in-worddocument/_images/en/dlg-insert-tables.png)
    'Table configuration’ dialog

5. Configure the dialog (see following sections) and click **Save**.

## Options in the 'Table configuration' Dialog

The following options are available in **Office for Desktop** 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 longer 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). |
| 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. |
| Cell margins | Opens the **Padding options** dialog, where you define the cell margins and the spacing between cells for all cells of the table (see section **Options in the ‘Cell margins’ dialog**). |
| Add as a template | Saves the current settings as a template. |
| Reset to default | Resets all settings to their default values. |

### Options in the ‘Cell margins’ dialog

Use the **Cell margins** button in the **Layout configuration** area to open a dialog where you define the cell margins and cell spacing for all cells of a template’s table. The values are saved at template level. The dialog contains the following options:

| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Default cell margins | Sets the inner spacing of the cells in centimetres (cm) – for **Top**, **Bottom**, **Left** and **Right** respectively. The default value is 0 cm in each case. |
| Allow spacing between cells | Enables the spacing between cells. Only when the checkbox is activated can a value for the **spacing** (in cm) be entered in the field below it. The option is deactivated by default. |

> **Note:** - Negative values cannot be entered in the input fields.
> - All values are saved in centimetres (cm) with up to two decimal places.
> - Click **OK** to apply the entered values, or **Cancel** to discard the changes.

> **Warning:** - 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](https://support.lucanet.com/en/documentation/disclosure-management/data-view.md) or in the corresponding Excel file.