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I am about to write an English document with the German versions of MS Word and Excel. I use Excel to create a chart which I import into the Word document (by Copy & Paste).

I can tell Excel to use a custom decimal separator (. instead of ,) via File, Options, Advanced. However, these settings are overruled when I paste the chart into Word and the chart again uses , as the decimal separator (for axis labels).

Is there a way I can configure the decimal separator for the imported chart in Word?

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  • Despite the Excel option, there are system wide settings under your regional settings tab. Change them too
    – nixda
    Aug 24, 2014 at 11:27
  • You mean the default editing language? I tried that, too. Doesn't change the chart (after re-pasting).
    – Nico Schertler
    Aug 24, 2014 at 11:33
  • Try to "update" the chart to make it reflect system/Excel settings. e.g. if you have numbers in the chart axis labels - check into the settings for these (right click on the axis for a menu named 'Format axis' - where you also find a 'Numbers' tab.)
    – Hannu
    Aug 24, 2014 at 12:14
  • @Hannu: Already checked this tab. But the numbers tab doesn't allow to set decimal separators.
    – Nico Schertler
    Aug 24, 2014 at 12:19
  • Is it greyed out? Can you see a tick for use system settings or similar? (I do not have Excel at hand)
    – Hannu
    Aug 24, 2014 at 12:21

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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There are at least three places to look:

1) System settings (Windows: Control panel, regional settings, Ubuntu: System Settings, Language support -> Regional formats
which should reflect/be reflected by $ locale)

2) Excel / Spreadsheet settings: Excel, File, Options, Advanced (LibreOffice?)

3) Cell/Item/Object local settings: e.g. Right click 'Chart axis' select 'Format axis' and go to the 'Numbers' tab. or press CTRL+1 with a cell selected.

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  • Changing the system settings works. But I really would like a method which doesn't change the whole system.
    – Nico Schertler
    Aug 24, 2014 at 12:51
  • Ahh... I missed the fact that you're pasting an Excel chart into Word. How about "3)" above - but for WORD or Excel via launch from FROM the embedded object in Word?
    – Hannu
    Aug 24, 2014 at 12:59
  • No, doesn't do it either.
    – Nico Schertler
    Aug 24, 2014 at 13:53
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AFAICS in Office 2013, the default paste format is "Microsoft Office Graphic Object".

If you are just pasting (not linking/embedding) then you could change the separators in Excel (as you are doing), use Paste->Special to specify one of the graphic formats, then change the separators back.

If you are using Paste->Link or embed, once you have the result you need with the separators you want, you should be able to prevent Word from updating the field result by selecting the field code and using ctrl-F11 to lock it. With an embed, you can get to the menu to change the separators using a copy of Excel opened "outside Word"

Either way, when you need to change the graphic again I think you will need to unlock the field (ctrl-shift-F11, change the separators to the ones you want, update the graphic, lock the field again, then change the separators back.

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