How to Convert Excel to Word (4 Ways That Work)

You've got a sheet in Excel and you need it in Word, and Excel has no "save as Word" option. That's why trying to convert Excel to Word feels harder than it should. A spreadsheet is a grid of cells and a Word file is pages of text, so there's no single button that turns one into the other.

There are four good ways to get there, though, and which one you want depends on the job. One table dropped into a report you're writing? Numbers that should keep up with the spreadsheet? The whole sheet as a Word file to send someone? Or one letter, label or form for every row?

Which way do you need?

You want	Use	The catch
One table or range in a document you're writing	Copy and paste	The table is a copy. Change the sheet and Word won't know.
Numbers that stay tied to the workbook	Embed or link	Whoever edits it needs Excel, and a link breaks if the file moves.
The whole sheet as an editable .docx	Excel to PDF, then PDF to Word	Formulas come across as their results.
One Word page per row (letters, labels, forms)	Mail merge	It takes a few minutes to set up the first time.

How to convert Excel to Word by copy and paste

For one table, this is the quickest way, and usually all you need.

1. In Excel, select the cells you want.
2. Copy them (Ctrl+C on Windows, Cmd+C on a Mac).
3. In Word, click where the table should go and paste (Ctrl+V or Cmd+V).
4. A small Paste Options button shows up next to the table. Click it to choose how the table comes in.

What each option does:

• Keep Source Formatting: a Word table with Excel's fonts, colors and borders.
• Use Destination Styles: a Word table that takes on your document's look.
• Link & Keep Source Formatting and Link & Use Destination Styles: the same two, but tied to the workbook, so the table can be updated when the numbers change.
• Picture: an image of the cells. It looks exactly like the sheet and can't be edited.
• Keep Text Only: just the values, with tabs between the columns and no table at all.

Then make it fit. A wide table often runs off the right edge of the page. Click anywhere in it, open the Layout tab that appears for tables, and choose AutoFit, then AutoFit Window to squeeze it to the page width, or AutoFit Contents to size each column to what's in it. If it's still cramped, turn that page landscape.

Embed or link the whole spreadsheet

When the numbers matter more than the look, put the workbook itself into the document.

1. In Word, go to Insert, then Object.
2. Open the Create from File tab and click Browse to pick your Excel file.
3. Leave Link to file unticked to embed it, or tick it to link it. Click OK.

The difference matters most for the person you send it to:

• Embedded: a copy of the workbook lives inside the Word file. Double-click it and it opens for editing in Excel. It doesn't change when the original does, and it makes the Word file bigger, but it travels with the document.
• Linked: Word shows what's in the Excel file and can update from it. That's great for a monthly report you keep on your own computer. Send the Word file to someone else, though, and the workbook doesn't go with it, so their copy can't update.

One trap: Insert, then Table, then Excel Spreadsheet gives you a new, empty sheet inside Word, not your file.

Convert the whole sheet to a Word file with PrintFriendly

Want an actual .docx you can send or rework, with no Word or Excel tricks? Go through a PDF. It's two steps on printfriendly.com, with nothing to install.

Step 1: Excel to PDF.

1. Open Excel to PDF.
2. Drop your .xlsx or .xls file on the box that says Drag & Drop or Choose File to Upload, or click it to pick the file.
3. Your spreadsheet opens in our editor. Look it over, then click Download at the top and choose PDF.

Step 2: PDF to Word.

1. Open PDF to Word.
2. Drop the PDF you just downloaded on the same kind of box.
3. It opens in the editor. Click Download and choose Word.

You get a .docx, a Word document you can edit, and it opens in Word, Google Docs or Pages.

Don't skip step 1. Drop the Excel file straight on PDF to Word and the Download menu offers only PDF and images, not Word. Word shows up only when the file you opened is a PDF.

A PDF holds what's on the page, not the workbook behind it, so formulas arrive as their results and filters and dropdowns don't come along. If a wide table broke across pages in the editor, fix the layout in Excel (more on that below) and upload it again. Downloading from either tool takes a free account. What each tool does and its file limits are in What Each PDF Tool Does.

Set up the sheet so it comes across cleanly

This is the real answer to "convert Excel to Word without losing formatting": most of the mess starts in the spreadsheet. A few minutes there, before you paste or convert, saves a lot of fixing after.

• Trim it to what you need. Delete or hide the scratch columns and helper rows. If you only want part of the sheet, copy just that range, or set it as the print area (Page Layout, then Print Area, then Set Print Area).
• Wide sheet? Go landscape. On the Page Layout tab, set Orientation to Landscape. In File, then Print, the scaling setting Fit All Columns on One Page keeps every column on one page.
• Skip merged cells in the body of the table. They're the first thing to come out misaligned. Merge them again in Word if you need to.
• Stick to common fonts. A font the other computer doesn't have gets swapped for one it does, and the columns shift.

Fill a Word document from Excel rows (mail merge)

If what you actually want is one letter, certificate, label or form per row, don't convert anything. That's what mail merge is for, and it fills in Word from your spreadsheet automatically.

1. Give the sheet one header row (Name, Address, Amount and so on) and one row per person or record.
2. In Word, open the Mailings tab, click Start Mail Merge and pick the kind of document, such as Letters.
3. Click Select Recipients, then Use an Existing List, and choose your Excel file and the sheet.
4. Write the document. Where a value from the sheet should go, click Insert Merge Field and pick the column.
5. Click Finish & Merge, then Edit Individual Documents, and Word makes one page for each row.

When something looks off

• The table runs off the page: AutoFit Window, landscape, or narrower margins.
• A row splits across two pages: right-click the table, choose Table Properties, open the Row tab and untick Allow row to break across pages.
• Merged cells don't line up: unmerge them in Excel, paste or convert again, and merge them in Word.
• The fonts changed: the font isn't on that computer. Pick a common one in Excel and try again.

Going the other way? How to convert Word to Excel has that one.