Importing graphs into Word:


Most of the time, you will want to embed an SPSS graph into a Word document, such as a lab
report. To do this, click once on the graph in SPSS to highlight it. Then go to the menu at the top
of the screen, pick "Edit" and then click on "copy". Switch to your Word document and place the
graph in it by clicking on "Edit" , then "Paste Special" and then "Bitmap". If you click and drag on
the little black dots around the box that contains the graph, you can resize it. It's best to do this by
clicking on a corner dot and holding down the shift key, so that the aspect ratio of the graph is
preserved. Otherwise, the text can get distorted and hard to read. You will have to do all of the
editing of the graph (colours, labels, font size, etc.) before you import it into Word -once it's in
Word, it will be a picture, an image rather than a graph as such, and you won't be able to edit it.
Be prepared - Word doesn't handle pictures particularly well, and you may find odd things
happening as you resize it, such as the graph suddenly jumping from one page to another or
occasionally disappearing altogether!


Graham Hole, Department of Psychology, University of Sussex, October 2006.

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