Paste special (FAQs)

Did you know that Topicscape has some rather special capabilities with Paste Special?

You can Paste Special into Topicscape and you don't need a document or file - it will make a wrapper file for you. The file type it makes is an RTF (Rich Text Format) file, that can handle embedded or linked OLE objects.

If you're confused, don't worry, we start with a small glossary of terms.

Glossary

Paste The standard paste operation where you copy something to the Windows clipboard with Ctrl+C or Ctrl+X, and place the copied material - text, image, etc., - into another document. You can also use the Edit Menu, Copy and Paste items. The material pasted will generally be formatted within the receiving document's capabilities. For example, if you paste a range of cells copied from an Excel spreadsheet into a Word document, data in the cells will be presented as a Word table. All the underlying Excel formulae will be dropped.

Paste Special The Windows operation where you copy something to the Windows clipboard with Ctrl+C or Ctrl+X, and place the copied material - text, image, etc., - into another document but where what you paste is formatted according to the original document. For example, if you paste using Paste Special a range of cells copied from an Excel spreadsheet into a Word document, data in the cells will be present as if they were in Excel, and will behave as if they were in Excel if you edit them.

OLE Object Linking and Embedding, a distributed object system and protocol developed by Microsoft (Wikipedia)

OLE object A portion of a document such as a few paragraphs of an MS Word file, or part of a spreadsheet. An OLE object may be on the Windows clipboard or form part of another document.

RTF file A rich Text Format file. Similar to a Word file, this document type can be opened by Word, Wordpad and many other word processor types of software.

Embedded A way of inserting an OLE object in a document so that it is independent of its source, but can still be processed by the original application that created it. For example, you may use Paste Special to insert a potion of a spreadsheet into Topicscape. Topicscape will create a 'wrapper' (it will be an RTF file) to hold that object. You can later double click on that portion of spreadsheet and Excel will open up to allow you to editi it in the normal way (provided Excel is installed on your computer).

Linked A way of inserting an OLE object in a document so that it remains linked to its source. It can still be processed by the original application that created it, and any changes you make to it will affect the source document as well.

I'm having trouble with Paste Special in Topicscape (or Topicscape Box)

"One of the following happens: I get an empty file;

• there is some information about the original file but no actual copied content;
• the copied text has a gray background;
• though I chose a linked object not embedded, when I double-click to edit, the original file does not open; or
• I get a Windows message saying 'Word cannot edit the Microsoft Word Document.'

Why did any of these happen?"

For the Windows paste special function to work with an OLE object, it has to know where to look for it and that means there has to be a file, properly saved. After you have selected the portion of text and pasted it, please save the file you just copied from, even if you have made no changes to the file. Then try again, and it should work.

In the Paste Special panel, please ensure that you selected "Microsoft Word Document" and "Link", or you will not be able to edit the original document by double-clicking the text in your new file.

These same requirements are likely to apply to other OLE-enable software.

I have a problem with Paste Special

"I made an Excel file MySpreadsheet.xls and saved it. I made a Word file MyDocument.doc and saved it. Then I copied a range of cells from MySpreadsheet and used Paste Special, with the 'Linked' option, to place it in MyDocument. I saved the Word file. Then in MyDocument, I selected the range of cells just pasted there, and copied it. It was on the clipboard because it could be pasted as a second copy in the Word file. In 3D Topicscape, I went into the Topic Centre and right clicked on the occurrences list. The Paste and Paste Special items on the pop-up menu were grayed out and inactive and the Edit | Paste Special said "no OLE on clipboard". "

This sounds pretty complicated. What it means is that you've put a piece of document One in document Two and you want to copy it from Two and paste it somewhere else.

Windows doesn't identify the range of cells in the MyDocument Word file as a standard OLE object when copied again. It is what Microsoft calls an "Excel Object". We suggest you open the original Excel doc, select the range of cells there and try again - then it will be a standard Paste Special. As the original Paste Special was a 'link', you only have to double click on it to open the original document.

I can't 'paste special' embedded in Topicscape with Word

"Topicscape makes an automatic RTF file for me with information about the extract of a Word document that I'm trying to paste, but it doesn't save the extract of the original Word document that I want there.

An extract of an Excel spreadsheet can be embedded with paste special, though. What has gone wrong?"

If you use anti-virus software with script-blocking enabled, this may be preventing the action you were attempting. Norton anti-virus seems to be quite well known for this -- try Googling on the following for other cases: 'Norton "script blocking" word paste special embedded'. The following are four options to overcome this: Disable script blocking - not recommended, as it will make you vulnerable to malware. You could do this temporarily, of course.

Just do a paste, not a paste special. This is the option we recommend. In the RTF document that Topicscape makes for you, the content will be almost identical if you do a paste instead of a paste special with the "Paste:" radio button selected. The latter, if not blocked, would give you a Word OLE object.

Do a paste special and choose the link option - script blocking does not block this. If you later edit the linked content in the RTF file, it will change the original document, of course, and this may or may not suit your needs. Do the paste special, embedded manually in a Word or RTF document you make yourself, then bring it into Topicscape.

The above appears to apply to all versions of Word since Office 97.