Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Inserting a Picture in Your Worksheet.

Inserting a Picture in Your Worksheet

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 22, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Excel allows you to insert a wide range of picture (graphic) types in your documents. You can insert the following types:

Picture Type Filename Extension
Compressed Enhanced Metafile EMZ
Compressed Macintosh PICT PCZ
Compressed Windows Metafile WMZ
Computer Graphics Metafile CGM
CorelDraw CDR
Encapsulated PostScript EPS
Enhanced Metafile EMF
FPX Format FPX
Graphics Interchange Format GIF
JPEG Format JPG
Kodak Photo CD PCD
Macintosh PICT PCT
PC Paintbrush PCX
Picture It! Format MIX
Portable Network Graphics PNG
Tagged Image File Format TIF
Windows Bitmap BMP
Windows Metafile WMF
WordPerfect Graphics WPG

This list looks very inclusive, but you may not be able to insert all of these on your particular version of Excel. The graphic files you can actually import depends on the version of Excel you have installed and which import filters you installed.

To insert a picture in your workbook, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Picture from the Insert menu, and then choose the From File option. This displays a file selection dialog box.
  2. In the Files of Type field, select the type of graphics file you want to insert.
  3. Locate and choose a filename for the picture you want to insert.
  4. Click on Insert.

Excel inserts the picture as if it is floating over your worksheet. You can then move the picture by simply using the mouse to drag the picture a new location.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2193) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Inserting a Picture in Your Worksheet.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Viewing Comments From a Specific Reviewer

If you have multiple editors (or authors) working on the same document, and each of them is adding comments, you may want ...

Discover More

Printing Limited Pages from a Range of Worksheets

Need to print just a few pages from a group of worksheets? The easiest way to handle the task may be through a macro, as ...

Discover More

Two-Line Headings in a TOC

If you use the TC field to mark what goes in a TOC, you may wonder why if you mark two lines together with the field, ...

Discover More

Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

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 ...

Discover More

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, ...

Discover More

Controlling Display of the Status Bar

Turning off the status bar through the options menu.

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is nine minus 5?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.