Decide How You Want to Share Information

The following table is a quick way to help you decide which method of sharing information to use.

If you want a copy of the information, and you	Then
Don’t need your copy of the information to stay current with the original, or “source,” information, and you don’t need to edit the source information	Use move or copy and paste commands; or drag-and-drop editing
Want to edit the inserted object in your file by using the source application, but don’t need to have changes reflected in the source file Might not have ongoing access to the source file, and you don’t care about file size	Insert an object
Want changes to the original information to be reflected in your file Want to edit the original information and know you’ll have ongoing access to the source file and application Want to share information among many files, or among files contained within an Office binder Want to minimize file size or save hard disk space	Create a link
Want to make use of information in other online files, but you don’t want to duplicate the information in your own online file Want to make it possible for users to jump from your online file to other online files with a single click	Create a hyperlink