embedding matlab figures (.fig files) automatically into a Word document

Hi,

I know how to use the Publish and notebook functionality to copy figures into Word documents. However, is there a way to copy the fig file as an embedded object into Word, so that anyone reading the doc on a computer (equipped with Matlab) can double click on the icon in the Word doc and launch Matlab to open the figure? This is useful when the data in the plot is not readily visible due to the axis and /or scale, and you want to be able to zoom in and out to review the plot. Any way to do this?

Thanks, Jorge

[Cedric]

It's not a solution but a hint.. maybe. If you have time for that, you could try using ActiveXServer or .NET. Here is an example for building a table with .NET (that I saved once from a thread on StackOverflow):

 %# Register Word assembly
 NET.addAssembly('microsoft.office.interop.word');

 %# Create an instance of Word
 wordApp = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.ApplicationClass;

 %# Get the object that handles documents
 wordDoc = wordApp.Documents;

 %# Add a new document
 newDoc = wordDoc.Add;

 %# Make Word visible
 wordApp.Visible = true;

 %# Get the selection object to manage selected area
 selection = wordApp.Selection;

 %# Create a table
 table = newDoc.Tables.Add(selection.Range, 3, 5);

 %# Add grid lines
 table.Style = 'Table Grid';

About ActiveXServer, just Google

 actxserver('Word.Application')

and you'll find quite a few threads or documents (e.g. this).

I didn't investigate further because I had no use for it, but if I had to insert an image in a Word document, this is probably where I would start.

Answer 1

[Cedric]

Mixing information from..

• http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/104375-set-excel-cell-dimension
• http://matlab.cheme.cmu.edu/2011/10/22/create-a-word-document-from-matlab/
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.office.interop.word.inlineshapes.addpicture%28v=office.11%29

I could build the following example..

 % - Build some plot.
 x = 0 : 1e-2 : 2*pi ;
 y = sin( x ) ;
 plot( x, y ) ;
 grid on ;
 xlabel( 'Angle \in [0,2\pi[' ) ;
 ylabel( 'Sine' ) ;

 % - Save as JPEG image (use absolute path!).
 jpegLocator = fullfile( cd, 'sine.jpeg' ) ;
 saveas( gcf, jpegLocator, 'jpeg' ) ;

 % - Build MS Word document, insert image, save (use absolute path!).
 docxLocator = fullfile( cd, 'sine.docx' ) ;
 word = actxserver( 'word.application' ) ;
 word.Visible = true ;                    % Set to false in final version.
 document = word.Documents.Add() ;
 document.InlineShapes.AddPicture( jpegLocator, false, true ) ;
 document.SaveAs2( docxLocator ) ;
 word.Quit() ;

Hope it helps!

[Jorge Rivé]

Hi Cedric,

I finally got around to reading and trying this out. Thank you. The issue I still have with this is that what I want embedded into Word is the matlab .fig file. The plots I'm generating need to be opened in Matlab so that the reviewer can pan/zoom and analyze them. A "stale" jpeg is not suitable for the amount/type of info I'm displaying on the plots.

What would be ideal is if I could invoke the Insert/object/create from file in Word from Matlab to insert these .fig files into the report. Maybe this is not doable....

Thanks again, Jorge

[Cedric]

Hi Jorge,

I would guess that it's no doable, if only because I have never seen anything close to this. Yet, if you find a solution, please update this thread with a short description, because I too would have a strong interest for that!

Regards, Cedric

[Mukund]

@Jorge Rivé ,

Could you please add the Answer you obtained.

Probably, it will be useful for Matlab community.

Answer 2

[Yatin]

Hi,

Once you have a image in your word document you can associate it with a hyperlink to a .m file or a .fig file in MATLAB, so that when you click on the image in the word file, it will open the MATLAB with the .fig file or the .m file for editing. Note however, that instead of double-clicking the image you will have to use Cntrl+Click to start up MATLAB. Also this procedure assumes that you have MATLAB installed on your Windows Machine and that the .m and .fig extensions are associated with MATLAB in the OS(Windows typically).

[Jorge Rivé]

Thanks for the response. However, I don't think it achieves what I'm looking for. I would still have to manually go and do the associations one by one. Is that right?

What I'm looking for is a way to automate the addition of embedded figure files or even the hyperlinks in a Word doc with either Publish or some other way.