What is Excel-to-Word document automation?
The Excel-to-Word Document Automation add-in allows you to automate the process of recurrently pushing Excel data into a Word document.
This can save you a great deal of time if you regularly need to populate a Word template with up-to-date information from an Excel file — for example, when preparing routine business reports.
It’s not just data that can be transported — text, calculations, charts, and graphics from Excel can all be linked to Word documents and quickly updated.
The add-in can be easily downloaded, and even better, the basic version is free to use.
All in all, it can be a very helpful part of broader workflow management for most businesses.
Let’s find out how it works below.
How does Excel-to-Word document automation work?
Imagine you have a spreadsheet of live data, which you use to prepare a monthly report in Word.
Rather than manually transferring data from the spreadsheet to the Word template every four weeks, this niche add-in allows you to automate the process.
Firstly, you’ll need to download the add-in (both in Excel and Word).
Click on “Get Add-ins”, which will take you to the Office add-ins store, and then search for “Excel-to-Word Document Automation”.
Next, prepare your Excel data for linking by clicking on the “Automate content” button on your toolbar and working through the steps set out.
Once your Excel elements are ready, switch back to Word, click on the “Automate Content” button in the Home tab of your toolbar there, and run through the equivalent steps.
You’ve now linked the two documents and populated your Word file with information from the spreadsheet.
Monthly report = done!
What are the benefits of Excel-to-Word document automation?
If you’ve ever used document management systems before, you’ll appreciate how helpful automation can be.
This particular tool can be very useful if you regularly prepare Word documents that are heavily templated and based on the same data fields.
Think of all the recurrent types of reports and documentation your organization prepares—these are very likely cases where automation could help.
While you will initially need to set up the spreadsheet and Word template, once this is done, the add-in allows you to churn out updated documents in just two clicks (“Submit” on the spreadsheet and “Update” in Word).
Though it’s true workflows like this can be managed manually, such approaches are time-consuming, laborious, and error-prone, especially when repeated month after month.
Thus, the Excel to Word add-in quickens, streamlines, and strengthens your workflow, cutting out a lot of time and effort and freeing you up for tasks that require more specialist skills.
Automate Word documents from Excel to save time and effort
Once you’re up and running, even modest tools like this one can be surprisingly impactful.
Automating these repetitive tasks saves you both time and effort, leaving staff free to focus on more valuable areas of the business and reducing errors.
If you want a more holistic overall approach to document management, take a look at the products available from PandaDoc too.
From creating contracts to document tracking, we’ve got your every need covered.