Using a Graphic for a Background

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 23, 2018)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


In Excel you are not limited to the plain old white or somewhat shaded background for your worksheets. Instead, you can use a graphic image for a background. The effect is much like the backgrounds you see on Web pages—the image used as the background is tiled (repeated) so that it fills the entire background of the worksheet. To use a graphic as a worksheet background, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Sheet from the Format menu, then choose Background from the resulting submenu. Excel displays the Sheet Background dialog box, which looks similar to a standard Open dialog box. (See Figure 1.)
  2. Figure 1. The Sheet Background dialog box.

  3. Use the controls in the dialog box to locate and select the graphic image you want to use as a background.
  4. Click on OK.

The image is imported and fills the background of your worksheet. To later remove a background, choose Sheet from the Format menu, then choose Delete Background from the resulting submenu.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2634) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

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

Turning Off Background Repagination

When you use Word, it normally performs several tasks in the background while you are typing. One of those tasks is to ...

Discover More

Creating and Naming a Worksheet Using a Macro

You can use macros to make your common Excel tasks easier and faster. For instance, if you routinely need to create new ...

Discover More

Getting the Traditional Open Dialog Box

When you attempt to open a file in Word, chances are good that you will first have to pass through what is called the ...

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)

Using Chart Titles

Titles can be a great addition to any chart. They help provide explanatory information about the information in the ...

Discover More

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.

Discover More

Creating Venn Diagrams with Excel Data

A common way of representing data is to use a Venn diagram. Unfortunately, Excel doesn't have a precise way of creating ...

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 3 + 2?

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.