Copy worksheet does not include objects

Brass Contributor

Hi,

I have noticed this happening for a while. Say I have a simple tab/sheet in a workbook that has text in it plus a text box. When I copy this tab/sheet to another workbook, it works fine except it does not copy the text box. This is also an issue if there are any shapes, such as lines.

 

Seems like this should be such an easy thing to do.

 

To copy a tab/sheet, I am right-clicking on the tab/sheet name and selecting "move or copy" and going from there.

 

Thanks!

Specifics: I have Office 365, Microsoft 365 for Enterprise and am on the "Current Channel." I am on Windows 10 Professional.

4 Replies

@kkb_IHC 

 

Hmm, I'm on a Mac (with the latest MIcrosoft 365 Subscription version, 16.38) and when I copy/move a sheet with text box and arrow it all goes along. This is maybe a case where the Mac version does something that the Windows doesn't.

 

That aside, your question makes me wonder what, in this case, you are using Excel for? Why not Word, say, or PowerPoint? If it's not too big a bother, could you give a bit of the big picture?

 

 

@mathetes 

That aside, no bother to tell you what I am doing. I work for an ACO and so often I have to send spreadsheets with member lists / healthcare data out to the provider organizations in our ACO for them to "do something" with. So I always include a tab with instructions or specifications. I format these instructions to be somewhat lively so that the most important parts stand out. That's where arrows and text boxes come in. 

Example see attached (purposely blurry).

@kkb_IHC 

 

Nice!

 

So there are live Excel spreadsheets behind (or adjacent to) this instructional one? I've not tried anything along those lines. When I've done such workbooks for others in my former (I retired long ago) organization, I'd also try my best to make them clear (with color and formatting)....so I appreciate the effort.

Is it possible to print a page like that, including the arrows and any other whiz-bang features, to a PDF or JPG (as you did to post this) and embed that resulting file in the front sheet? In fact, a separate PDF [since this page once created is static, right?] might even be preferable to your "clients." They could just print it and have it in front of them as they navigate the Excel sheets themselves.

 

Or, alternately--since my Mac seems to handle this task just fine--you could upgrade yourselves to the Mac environment. [just kidding]

@mathetes 

Unfortunately, once I send out the workbook, it then gets routed around to different people in each org, so it's preferable to have the instructions "attached" to it. That's why I don't just put the instructions in the accompanying email when I send it out. They would never get followed if I did that.

 

I do always format the instructions so that they print nicely in case someone is a "paper" person (as I am). Also I try to make them click as few times as possible to do anything, so embedding a PDF or something would be an additional step to open (and who knows if it would copy over either). And the reason I need to be able to copy this sheet is because I have my master workbook with say, all member/patient rows, that I then carve out by organization including only their particular members/patients, so I need to copy that instructional tab over and over again.