Hints on copying plots from Excel to Word
Often you will find that you
have generated the perfect plot in Excel only to find that when you paste it
into word the plot becomes distorted. I have
found that the safest way to paste Excel plots into word is to use the sequence
“Edit | Paste Special | Picture (Enhanced Metafile).”
If you want to move the plot
in your MS word file, it is usually a good idea to do the following sequence:
- Right click on the plot.
- Go to “Format Picture.”
- Hit the “Layout” tab.
- Select one of the formatting options, such as
“square” or “in front of text.”
I also find it useful to put
the figure caption in a “text box” (available from the “drawing” toolbar). You can then group the caption with the
figure so that they can be positioned together.
Hints on use of the equation editor
The use of the equation
editor is much simpler if certain shortcut keys are used. For example, to enter the equation editor you
can use <control>e, which is far faster than using the menu sequence “Insert
| Object | MS Equation Editor Object.”
It is also easier than clicking on an equation editor shortcut key on
the toolbar. Also, the <esc> key
exits from the equation editor and is almost as useful as <control>e.
Next, you should memorize the
key sequences for Greek letters and for superscripts and subscripts. If you type <control>g from inside the
equation editor, the next letter that you type will be in Greek. For example, <control>ga will produce
the Greek letter 
. To get a
superscript, use <control>h (mnemonic “high”) and to get a subscript use
<control>l (mnemonic “low”). A
joint superscript and subscript is obtained with <control>j.
Try the following sequence:
<control>ex<control>j1↓2<esc>. You should get 
without having to use
the mouse at all.
Also
examine these other useful keyboard sequences
(Downloadable MS Word File).
Steven A. Jones