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: Non-Tiled Background Pictures.

Non-Tiled Background Pictures

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 26, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


2

When you add a background picture to an Excel worksheet, the picture is normally "tiled" so that it fills the whole screen, over and over again. For some background images, this is a great effect. For others, it is bothersome. In these cases, you may want to have only a single copy of the background image appear on-screen.

There is no way to do this directly within Excel, however. The only option is the tiling of background images. You can reduce the bothersome effects of the tiling, though, by loading the background image into your favorite graphics editing program and simply increasing the size of the canvas on which the image is located. You should make the canvas the same size as a full sheet of paper, with the actual image centered on the canvas. Save the new image, and use it for your background.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2203) 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: Non-Tiled Background Pictures.

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. ...

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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 five more than 3?

2015-07-02 12:10:19

Steve

Image sized at 7x9 stretches to fill every available cell. Very frustrating.


2014-02-05 11:13:13

Pete

Re-sizing the image is fine until you run the spreadsheet on a monitor with a different screen resolution.


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