Excel.Tips.Net Welcome toExcel.Tips.Net

Helpful Links

Tips.Net Home
ExcelTips Home
Ask an Excel Question
Make a Comment

Tips.Net Store

ExcelTips FAQ
ExcelTips Premium

Learn Access Now

Beauty Tips
Car Tips
Cleaning Tips
College Tips
Cooking Tips
Excel2007 Tips
ExcelTips
Family Tips
Gardening Tips
Health Tips
Home Tips
Money Tips
Organizing Tips
Pest Tips
Pet Tips
Wedding Tips
Word2007 Tips
WordTips

Advertise on the
ExcelTips Site

Newest Tips

Assigning a Macro to a Keyboard Combination

Creating Scenarios

Using Message Boxes

Understanding Phantom Macros

Picking a Group of Cells

Running Out of Memory

Hiding Rows Based on a Cell Value

 

Making an Image Color Transparent

Summary: 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. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, and Excel 2003.)

Whenever you place a picture in your worksheet, it is rectangular in nature. Sometimes, the image may actually be rather small, but the area occupied by the image is rather large. For instance, you could have a logo that is diagonal in nature, which means that there is a large "background area" on the image. This background area, for all intents and purposes, is wasted space.

Fortunately, Excel allows you to define a particular color in your image as a transparent color. This means you could select the background area of your image, designate it as transparent, and thereby allow the underlying cells show through. To make a transparent area in your image, follow these steps:

  1. Select the image you want to modify.
  2. The Picture toolbar should be visible. If it is not, use the Toolbars option from the View menu to turn on the Picture toolbar.
  3. Click on the Set Transparent Color tool on the toolbar. (This is the second tool from the right.) The mouse cursor changes to look like the tool itself.
  4. In the image, click on the color you want to be transparent.

If you can't select the Set Transparent Color tool in step 3, then you might not be able to set a transparent color in the image. Excel allows you to set the transparency color for bitmapped graphics, but not for other types. If you later want to turn off the transparency color, then you need to click the Reset Picture tool on the Picture toolbar.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2200) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Save Time and Money! Many people need to keep track of employee time, but don't know where to start when it comes to creating a spreadsheet. Here's a way to save time, effort, and money with ready-to-use timesheet templates.
 
Check out Timesheet Templates today!