The Office suite of products allows you to insert images into your document. The process is identical across the Office suite of applications. If you have learned how to insert objects in one of the other applications, you already know how to insert objects in Excel. Conversely, if you are learning for the first time, you can transfer this knowledge to any other Office application you have on your computer!
The types of images you can use are placed into two categories: (1) Clipart from the application itself and (2) images external to the application. We will look at examples of both of these.
When your applications were installed, a collection of clipart images was installed also. Office chooses to call this collection the Clipart Gallery. The different versions of Excel will give you slightly different screen looks to access images in this collection, but all work very intuitively and you should be able to determine exactly what to do from the screen prompts regardless of your version.
You can access this image collection from the Menu or from the toolbar. Select Image + Picture + Clip Art.
Depending on the specific version of the application, you will see a selection wizard which will allow you to narrow your selection down from the entire clipart collection.
Note that the images are grouped into categories of images. Try to conceptualize the type of image you are seeking and match that image to one of the Clipart Gallery's categories. Note the number of categories in the default setup.
If you were wishing to find a picture of a lion, you might select the animals category. This would bring up all of the animal pictures in the collection.
If
you see an image that is acceptable, simple select it with a click.
This brings up a small popup which lets you insert the image in your document.
Click on the insert button and your will have your selected clipart image copied to your document.
The
clipart image will function like the drawn objects...it sits on top of your
spreadsheet document. You may drag it to another location.
You may select one of the sizing handlebars around the edges
of the object and make the larger or smaller depending on your needs.
If you change your mind, you may select the object and press the Delete Key to remove the object and go select again.
Inserting images that are not from the Clipart Gallery installed with Excel is conceptually similiar. You tell Excel to insert and image, you tell Excel where the image is located, and then you say OK.
You may have noticed the way you tell Excel what you want to do when you started inserting Clipart.
If you don't select Clip Art but select From File, you are telling Excel that you wish to use a file NOT installed with the application, but found somewhere else on the hard drive or on a diskette.
Several Windows operating systems feature a folder in the My Documents folder called My Pictures. When you select From File, the operating system will send you to this location first. If this is not where you have your images, you may navigate to the location using the down-arrow.
If this is the picture you want, simple click on the Insert button and the picture will be displayed on your spreadsheet.
Note the image may not be the correct size or location.
Drag the image to the location on your spreadsheet where you wish it to be located.
The size of the image may not be appropriate.
Use the sizing handlebars to drag the image to a smaller/larger size.
Comment: We strongly recommend you begin keeping your own image collection. The clipart that is installed with the program is designed to appeal to general audiences. Your professional needs of images may not be met with any depth by the general collection in the Clipart Gallery. Begin your own collection of images so you can quickly find just the right one to fit a particular project.