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.

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

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