Tips, Tricks, and Answers

The following articles are available. Click the article's title (shown in bold) to see the associated article.

Adding a Drop Shadow to a Text Box Text boxes on a printed page can appear “flat,” almost without definition. You can make them stand out more by applying shadows to the text box. In this way they almost appear to “pop” off the page. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Adding AutoShapes The graphics features of Excel allow you to add a number of predefined AutoShapes to a workbook. If you want to add shapes to the AutoShapes feature, however, you are out of luck. The shapes are apparently hard-coded into Excel, and cannot be modified. There are workarounds, however, and they are covered here. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Adding Data Labels to Your Chart When creating a chart, you can use data labels to indicate what different parts of the chart represent. Excel allows you to selectively display or hide different types of data labels, as covered in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Adding Drop Shadows A drop shadow is a graphic effect that adds a “shadow” to two sides of an object, thereby making it look like it is floating above the underlying paper. Drop shadows can easily be added to graphic objects in your workbook, as described in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Adding Text Boxes to Charts Need to add a text box to your charting masterpiece? There are a couple of ways you can do so. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Adding Text to an AutoShape You can add text to all sorts of drawing shapes, not just text boxes. Here’s how easy it is. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Adjusting Picture Appearance Using the Picture toolbar in Excel to easily adjust the appearance of a graphic in a workbook. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Adjusting Your View of 3-D Graphs When you create a 3-D chart in Excel, you might want to rotate the chart so that you are examining it from a different perspective. Fortunately, Excel makes it easy to adjust this rotation, as described in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Assigning Macros to Graphics Depending on your version of Excel, macros are usually added to toolbars and menus. You can also add them to graphics, so that the macro is executed when someone clicks on the graphic. This tip explains how to establish that relationship between a graphic and a macro. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Automatically Updating Charts for Additional Data If you have a chart that is based on data in your worksheet, you might want the chart to update automatically as you add new information. This tip explains how you can accomplish this easily. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Capturing a Screen Graphics can be easily added to Excel worksheets. This tip describes how you can easily grab screen shots and add them to a worksheet. (And you don’t even need to use a separate graphics program unless you want to modify the screen shot in some way.) Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Changing an AutoShape One type of graphic you can insert in a workbook is an AutoShape. Once placed, AutoShapes can be easily changed to any of the other AutoShapes for the desired effect. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Changing Axis Tick Marks Create a chart in Excel, and you may find that the tick marks shown on the axes in the chart aren’t to your liking. It is easy to change the interval at which the tick marks occur by using the information in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Changing Chart Type Excel allows you to add two distinct types of charts to your workbooks: embedded or chart sheets. You can switch between the two by following the steps outlined in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Changing Chart Types Excel doesn’t limit you to representing your chart’s data in a single way. In fact, you can use any number of chart types to showcase your data. This tip shows how easy it is to modify a chart type once your chart has been created. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Changing How Arrows Look If you use Excel’s graphic capabilities to insert a line or an arrow into a worksheet, you can change how that arrow looks. For instance, you can change the type of arrowhead used and the ends of the line on which those arrowheads appear. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Changing Line Color in a Drawing Object After placing an object in your worksheet or using Excel’s drawing tools, you may want to change the color used for the lines that make up the object. This is easy to do, provided you know where to look in the program. This tip shows just how easy it really is. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Changing the Axis Scale When you create a chart that uses an axis, Excel makes best-guess estimation of what the scale should be that is applied to the axis. You can override Excel’s decisions by following the steps outlined in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Changing the Pattern Used in a Data Series When you create a chart, Excel attempts to assign colors to your data series that it thinks will work best for you. If you want to change those colors to something else—including a variety of patterns—you can easily do so. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Changing the Size of a Drawing Object Drawing objects are becoming more and more common in worksheets. If you need to change the size of a drawing object, you can do so by utilizing the object’s drawing handles according to the techniques in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Changing the Size of a Graphic Excel isn’t just for numbers and boring data—it can also include graphics. After placing a graphic in your worksheet you can easily resize the graphic according to your needs. Just click and drag, and the graphic is resized. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Colorizing Charts Excel normally does a great job in choosing different colors for the various data points presented in a chart. In some situations you may want to override the default colors and apply your own. This tip explains how you can easily make the changes you need in the chart. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Controlling Chart Gridlines When you create a chart based on your data, Excel automatically applies gridlines, based on the type of chart you create. With just a few clicks you have complete control over how those gridlines appear. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Controlling Display of the Scroll Bars Turning off the scroll bars through the options menu. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Controlling Display of the Status Bar Turning off the status bar through the options menu. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Creating a Chart Excel goes out of its way to make it very easy to chart your data. In fact, you can create simple charts with just a couple of mouse clicks. This tip explains how you can create a chart of your data in the quickest time possible. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Creating a Drawing Object Excel worksheets can contain graphics as well as data. When you add drawing objects, they are placed on a special drawing layer that allows them to be manipulated without interfering with the regular worksheet data. This tip explains how to create a drawing object using the Drawing toolbar. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Creating a Log/Log Chart If you need to create a chart that uses logarithmic values on both axes, it can be confusing how to get what you want. This tip explains which of the chart types in Excel is best suited for the type of chart you need. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Creating a Watermark Adding a picture to the background of an Excel worksheet. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Creating an AutoShape Excel includes some predefined shapes (called AutoShapes) that you can add o your worksheet. It’s easy to do once you discover how to access them through the Drawing toolbar. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Creating an Organization Chart Excel allows for easy creation of organization charts from the insert menu. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Creating Custom Chart Formats When you create a chart in Excel, you can spend quite a bit of time getting the look just the way you want. Don’t let that work go to waste; save the chart format under a custom name, as described in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Cropping Graphics It is not unusual to place graphics in a worksheet. Excel provides a few tools you can use to adjust the appearance of the graphic once it is placed. One of these tools, described in this tip, allows you to crop the graphic so that it displays only the part that you want shown. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Cropping Pictures How to crop a graphic placed in an Excel worksheet. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Deleting All Graphics Need to delete all the graphics in a worksheet? It’s easy to do when you use the Go To Special dialog box. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Determining Mouse Cursor Coordinates On a Graphic Add a graphic to a worksheet as part of an Image object, and you can use some very handy event handlers to figure out the coordinates of the mouse pointer. Here’s how to make it work. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Displaying Images based on a Result Got some images that you want to appear in a worksheet based on the result displayed in a cell? Figuring out how to “conditionally display” an image can be tricky, but it can be done following the steps in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Displaying the AutoShapes Menu How to undock the AutoShapes menu to make it more accessible for placing multiple shapes in an Excel worksheet. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Drawing Lines Want to add some lines to your worksheet? You can add all sorts of them by following the techniques described in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Drawing Simple Objects Want to draw a few simple shapes or lines on your worksheet? Here’s how to do it. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Duplicating Drawing Objects Using the copy and paste techniques you already know, you can copy and paste drawing objects. In this way, you can duplicate the drawing objects as many times as you need. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Editing Graphics Objects Two of the most common editing tasks for graphics is to resize them and delete them. Both tasks are easy to accomplish with the information presented in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Exploded Pie Chart Sections When you create a pie chart in Excel, you can create it with all the slices together or all the slices spread apart (“exploded”). This tip explains ways that you can group together different exploded slices to get just the look you want. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Exporting a Graphics Group When you have your charts looking great, you may want to export them for use in another program. That’s not quite as easy as you might hope. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Exporting Black and White Charts Excel’s charts are normally created in color, but you can print them in black and white. You may be looking for a way to export the black and white version of a chart so that it can be used in a different program. This tip explains the different ways you can accomplish your desire. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Filling a Drawing Object Excel allows you to add drawing objects to your worksheets. These objects can be filled with a variety of colors or effects, as described in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Flipping a Drawing Object Drawing objects can easily be flipped horizontally or vertically in Excel. How you accomplish the task depends, of course, on the version of Excel you are using. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Formatting Axis Patterns Create a chart in Excel can you can then modify it almost any way you desire. One modification is to adjust the color or pattern applied to an axis. This tip examines the ways you can do this. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Formatting the Border of a Legend When you create a chart, Excel often includes a legend with the chart. You can format several attributes of the legend’s border, as discussed in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Getting Rid of Fixed Objects Some dialog boxes in Excel refer to “fixed objects” in worksheets. What are they and how do you get rid of them? Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Grouping and Ungrouping Objects Graphics can be placed easily into a worksheet. You can combine graphics together—group them—so they are treated as a single unit. This tip explains how. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Hiding Graphics Graphics are a great addition to a worksheet, but there may be times when you don’t want them printed. The easy way to handle this is to just turn off the display of the graphics, as described in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Hiding Objects Graphics in a worksheet are great, but when you want to really crunch numbers, the graphic objects can be distracting. This tip explains how you can hide graphic objects so they are not immediately visible. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Identifying Scatter Plot Points Do you want to add data labels to the data points in an xy graph? Excel doesn’t provide a way to get the desired labels, but you can get them with the products suggested in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Inserting a Picture in Your Workbook Even though Excel is a spreadsheet program, it still allows you to insert graphics into your worksheets. This tip explains the various graphic formats that can be used with Excel and how to insert those graphics. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Inserting a Watermark Behind Merged Cells If you have a group of merged cells into which you want a user to enter information, you may want some sort of “watermark” in the cells. This is easier said than done, as Excel doesn’t provide this type of capability. There are some workarounds you can try, however. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Inserting from a Camera or Scanner One of the ways you can insert graphics into a worksheet is by grabbing them from a digital camera or a scanner. This tip discusses how you can add pictures from these input devices. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Inserting Multiple Drawing Objects When you need to add more than one of a particular drawing object to a worksheet, you can use the techniques described in this tip to make the job faster. Excel allows you to “lock” the drawing tool on so that creating multiple objects is very easy. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Locking Callouts to a Graph Location If you add callouts using the drawing tools in Excel, you may have noticed that they don’t always stay where you expect them to stay. This tip explains the reason and then provides a better way to get the callouts you need. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Making an Image Color Transparent Excel allows you to put all types of graphics in your workbooks. If you are using bitmapped graphics (a very common type), you can instruct Excel to treat a color in the graphic as transparent. This can greatly improve the appearance of some types of graphics. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Modifying Axis Scale Labels Create a chart in Excel, and the program decides how to scale the chart for best appearance. If you want to override what Excel decides, you can adjust the scale using techniques described in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Moving and Copying Graphics Objects Graphics, when first added to a worksheet, are probably not in the final place that you want them. Moving and copying them is easy, once you know the simple technique to use. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Moving Drawing Objects Want to move a drawing object around your worksheet? It is easy enough to do with the mouse. This tip explains the best place to position the mouse in order to make a quick move. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Negatives in Pie Charts Pie charts are a great way to graphically display some types of data. Displaying negative values is not so great in pie charts, however. This tip examines some of the things you can do. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Non-Tiled Background Pictures Background images for a worksheet are automatically repeated over and over (tiled) by Excel. This tip describes a workaround you can use to minimize the distracting effect of tiling. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Nudging a Graphic Want to get a graphic to just the right position on a worksheet? Sometimes the easiest way is to use the arrow keys on the keyboard, as described in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Pasting a Graphic to Multiple Worksheets Pasting a graphic into a worksheet is easy. Pasting the same graphic to a lot of worksheets is repetitious. Excel doesn’t make it easy to paste graphics to multiple worksheets, but you can use a macro or two to make the job much easier. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Pictures in AutoShapes Filling an AutoShape with a picture of your choosing is a neat trick. Excel makes it easy to do. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Pixels in a Text String Determining the length of a text string is easy, but figuring out how many pixels are represented by those characters is quite difficult. Here’s a discussion of why this difficulty exists. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Placing Textbox Text Into a Worksheet Want to get rid of your text boxes and move their text into the worksheet? It’s going to take a macro-based approach, discussed here. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Positioning Graphics Evenly If you need to adjust the position of your graphics so that they are evenly spaced, you can do so by using a quick little Excel command. This tip explains how you can distribute the position of graphics between two end graphics. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Printing a Chart Got a chart that you’ve created? Printing it can be as easy as printing your worksheets, but there are a couple of chart-specific things you’ll want to check before you create the printout. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Protecting a Graphic If you place a graphic in a worksheet, you may want to protect it so that it cannot be deleted. The ability to protect a graphic depends on where you place it in a worksheet, as discussed in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Pulling AutoShape Text from a Worksheet Cell Excel allows you to create AutoShapes that can contain text. What if you want that text to be pulled directly from a worksheet cell? It’s easy to do using the technique in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Quickly Duplicating Drawing Objects Excel provides a couple of different ways that you can quickly duplicate drawing objects in a worksheet. Committing these shortcuts to memory will help make your work with drawing objects easier than ever. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Reading Values from Graphs Adding a trendline to a graph will allow you to see trends a bit easier, depending on your data. You can even utilize an option that allows you to see what formula Excel uses to create the trendline from your graph’s values. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Resize Graphics Outside of Excel Graphics are a common addition to almost any workbook. If you need to change the size of your graphics (which Excel lets you do), you may want to give serious thought to where that size change occurs. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Resizing a Picture How to resize a graphic in Excel. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Resizing a Text Box in a Macro Text boxes are easy to add to a document and manually resize, as needed. If you want to resize the text box in a macro, however, the way to do it effectively may seem elusive. This tip explains how you can resize a text box to cover a desired range of cells. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Rotating a Drawing Object Add a new shape or drawing object to your worksheet, and there it sits—ram-rod straight and ready to enhance your presentation. You don’t have to settle for such straightness, however; you can easily rotate a drawing object to any angle you desire. This tip explains a couple of ways you can put just the right tilt on your drawing objects. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

ScreenTip for an Image You can configure images in Excel so that if someone clicks on them, a macro is executed. You cannot, however, have a macro and a traditional ScreenTip tied to the same object. This tip explains how you can get around this limitation using two separate techniques. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Selecting Drawing Objects Excel allows you to add all sorts of drawing objects to your worksheets. Using the tools in the Drawing toolbar, you can easily select individual drawing objects so that you can take some action on them. This tip explains how you can perform the selection of both individual and groups of objects. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Sending Drawing Objects to the Back or Front Objects played on the drawing layer can be arranged in front of or behind each other. Knowing how to change this arrangement can come in real handy when you are trying to get just the right look for your drawing. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Setting Default Attributes for Lines and Arrows Don’t like the way that Excel formats lines and arrows? You can easily make your own formatting changes, and then use your masterpiece as the new default for Excel. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Sizing Text Boxes and Cells the Same Adding text boxes to worksheets is a snap. At some point you may want to make sure that the textbox you are adding is exactly the same size as the cell (or cells) that it covers. This tip explains how to make this happen. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Smoothing Out Data Series When creating a line chart, you may want to have the lines plotted by Excel “smoothed” so that there are no sharp edges at data points. This is easy to do, and can be configured for each of your data series. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Sorting with Graphics If the graphics that you insert in your worksheet meet a couple of simple requirements, it is possible to have those graphics be sorted right along with the data in the worksheet. This tip explains those requirements and explains how you can do the sorting. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Specifying an Order for Drawing Objects Drawing objects can be layered over each other in almost any manner you desire. If you want to change the order in which those drawing objects are layered, you’ll want to use the techniques in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Styles for Lines, Dashes, and Arrows When you add lines or arrows to your worksheet, you can format those objects in a variety of ways. Excel allows you to modify the style, weight, and other attributes using the tools highlighted in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Symmetric Resizing of Graphics When you resize graphics by clicking and dragging, you may end up with a distorted image. That is, unless you use the shortcut in this tip that allows symmetric resizing of your graphics. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Taking a Picture Excel allows you to capture portions of your worksheet as a picture that you can then use in a variety of other ways. Here’s how to take the snapshot. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Taking Pictures One of the really nifty tools buried deep within Excel is a “camera” that you can use to take dynamic pictures of your data. This top explains how to find this tool, how to make it accessible, and how to use it to “picture” your data. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Turning the Legend On and Off When you create a chart in Excel, the program may automatically add a legend that explains the contents of the chart. In some cases the legend may not be necessary, so you may want to turn it off. This tip explains how you can “flip the switch” and turn the legend on or off. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Two-Level Axis Labels Need a chart that uses two lines for axis labels? It’s easy to do if you know how to set up your data in the worksheet, before creating the chart. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Understanding Fill Effects Adding drawing objects to a worksheet is a common task in Excel. If you apply the techniques in this tip, you can fill those drawing objects in all sorts of different ways. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Unselecting a Chart Item When formatting a chart, you select items and then change the properties of those items until everything looks just the way you want. If you want to unselect a chart item—perhaps so you don’t accidentally change it—here’s a quick way to do it. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Using a Graphic for a Background Adding a graphic for a background in Excel. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Using Chart Titles Adding chart titles to give meaning to Excel graphs is easy with this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Using Dynamic Chart Titles Want the title used in your chart to reflect information that is actually stored in your worksheet? You can do it by using a simple formula, as described here. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Using Graphics to Represent Data Series You can spice up your bar chart by using a graphic, of your choosing, to construct the bars. This tip shows how easy it is to pick and use your graphic. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Using Text Boxes Text boxes are handy for placing information in a container that can “float” over your worksheet. This tip explains what text boxes are and how you can create them. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Using the Camera in VBA The camera tool allows you to capture dynamic “pictures” of portions of a worksheet. If you want to use the camera tool from within a macro, you’ll need to apply the techniques discussed in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Using the Keyboard to Select and Resize a Chart Object When working with charts and chart objects, Excel is very dependent on the mouse. If you don’t want to use the mouse, but instead want to use the keyboard, the techniques to apply are not immediately evident. This tip explains how to select and resize a chart object in a worksheet, using nothing but the keyboard. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Using the Mouse to Adjust Your View of 3-D Graphs Want to adjust the perspective from which your 3-D graph is viewed? In most versions of Excel you can use the mouse to rotate the graph in any direction. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Watermarks in Excel Excel allows you to add backgrounds to your worksheets, but this isn’t the same as a watermark. There is no way to create a real watermark in Excel, but this tip presents a couple of alternative ways you can simulate them on printouts. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Helpful Links

Ask an Excel Question
Make a Comment

Tips.Net Home

ExcelTips FAQ
ExcelTips Premium

Learn Access Now

Beauty Tips
Bugs and Pests Tips
Car Tips
Cleaning Tips
College Tips
Cooking Tips
Excel2007 Tips
ExcelTips
Family Tips
Gardening Tips
Health Tips
Home Tips
Money Tips
Organizing Tips
Pet Tips
Word2007 Tips
WordTips

Advertise on the
ExcelTips Site

 

RSS Feeds

 Daily Nuggets (an ExcelTip every day)

 Allen Wyatt's ExcelTips (the weekly classic)