Paste textbox from Powerpoint to Word as an editable control

Question

I have a Powerpoint 2007 file that contains a number of textboxes and shapes with text on them. I can edit, resize, change the text, etc. in these boxes in Powerpoint. However, if I select an item, copy it, and paste it into a Word 2007 document, I can't edit it. I can resize the entire thing, but it acts more like an image than a text box. I've tried the paste special options and keep source formatting options, but still can't edit it. Is there a way to be able to paste the editable content from Powerpoint and still have it editable in Word?

Update

I found this question that appears to get to the root of the problem:

The MS Office Art graphics engine (aka Escher 2) is new to MS Office 2007 and while fully implemented in Excel and Powerpoint is only partially implemented in Word 2007 for backwards compatibility with the MS Office Drawing/Graphics engine (aka Escher) still available in Word

It should work in earlier versions of Word and Word 2010, but not Word 2007. This is quite frustrating as I have to edit the slide in Powerpoint before copying it into Word. While doable, it adds another step, but the problem is that everyone who wants to update the Word document will have to do the same thing, adding complexity and steps for everyone. If I embed the Powerpoint slide in the document, I can edit the controls, but they don't scale the same way and takes a lot of work.

Solution 1

In Word 2010 select the dropdown menu under Paste

Then select Microsoft Powerpoint object

Solution 2

The issue here is that when you copy a complex element like this from prowerpoint it does indeed render it and save it as an image, so you're right it behaves like an image because it is.

In some cases when the products are compatible you can paste complex items into another program. It's odd that word wouldn't accept powerpoint material (as they are pretty similar). Personally I've been able to do this using Office 2010.

Try selecting each element individually (holding shift) then copy and paste, that may have some effect.

Comments

[George Harris]

Selecting individual elements doesn't help - even if I only select a label and paste it into Word, it does it as an image that I can't edit. I would expect this behavior if pasting into other programs, but not between Microsoft Office applications.