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#### 3.7.1 OLE embedding

Since one of the main uses of Msc-generator is to paste charts into presentations or documents, Msc-generator supports OLE embedding of charts in the MFC GUI from version 2.2.

You can take a chart and embed it as a component in a compound document such as a Word, Excel or Powerpoint document. To do this, copy the chart to the clipboard by clicking on the Copy Chart (OLE obj) button and paste it into the compound document3. Later you can edit the chart by double clicking the chart in the document4.

Right clicking an embedded chart in a document will bring up a menu of options, where you can select `Edit` or `Open` for editing in a separate window; or `View Full Screen` to view (but not edit) the chart in full screen.

Page, chart design and layout settings you select on the ribbon are saved with embedded documents along with entity/box collapse/expand state. Thus if you copy a multi-page chart to a document with a single page selected, only the selected page will be visible in the document. (But the source text of the whole chart is stored there.) Likewise, if you collapse/expand certain boxes or entities or subgraphs, they will show in that state in the document. Later, if you double-click the chart and open Msc-generator, you can change the page, design or collapse/expand status and these will update in the document. Note that page, chart design, layout and collapse/expand settings are not saved with the chart when saving to a text file. Only when embedded (either as OLE object, as alt-text (see below) or into a PNG file).

See more details in Advanced OLE Considerations.

Best common practice workflow You start editing the chart in Msc-generator. At some point select Copy Chart (OLE obj) and then use Paste Special... to paste into a PowerPoint or Word document (select `Msc-generator Signalling Chart Object`). Then any time later, simply double-click the chart to open and edit it. Updating the chart (with the F2 key, for example) in such a session will update the embedded graphics.

#### Footnotes

##### (3)

Make sure you paste the chart using ‘`Paste Special...`’ as an ‘`Msc-generator Chart Object`’.

##### (4)

In place editing is no longer supported from version 3.4.1.

Next: Alt-text embedding, Previous: Office integration, Up: Office integration [Contents]