Thanks A, but this will only link to the first sheet or the sheet that had the focus when Excel was saved. I have charts on 3 different sheets, and each Excel spreadsheet is saved as data1.xls,data2.xls,data3.xls etc. Therefore when I open a report I will say I want to see the 3 charts from data3.xls in an Access report, so the variable is data? etc. I cannot see what use 'Source Item' in the properties, it works with a form but not with reports. Thats why I thought use code to open excel , highlight the sheet I want , copy it, then (this bit I cannot do) is copy it as a picture into the relevant table, any ideas ?