Turning on Placeholders

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 11, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


1

If you are working with a large worksheet that has a large number of graphics, you may have noticed that Excel slows down quite a bit when displaying the graphics. This can be particularly distracting, especially if your graphics are quite detailed or are being loaded across a busy network connection.

You can speed up the display of your worksheet by using placeholders. This results in Excel displaying boxes where your graphics would normally appear. This means that Excel does not have to redisplay the complete graphic, and therefore your display will be much faster. To turn on placeholders, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. You will see the Options dialog box.
  2. Click on the View tab. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The View tab of the Options dialog box.

  4. Use the Show Placeholders check box to control whether placeholders are used by Excel. Click on the check box to turn the capability on and off; a check in the box means placeholders are enabled.
  5. Click on OK.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2942) 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

Displaying a Single Page

When displaying the information in your document, Word is rather flexible. It can, if you so choose, display multiple ...

Discover More

Showing Elapsed Time in a Graph

Working with elapsed times can be a bit tricky in some situations. One such situation involves the displaying of elapsed ...

Discover More

Saving Non-Existent Changes

Open a workbook, look at the data, start to close the workbook, and you are asked if you want to save your changes. What ...

Discover More

Dive Deep into Macros! Make Excel do things you thought were impossible, discover techniques you won't find anywhere else, and create powerful automated reports. Bill Jelen and Tracy Syrstad help you instantly visualize information to make it actionable. You’ll find step-by-step instructions, real-world case studies, and 50 workbooks packed with examples and solutions. Check out Microsoft Excel 2019 VBA and Macros today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Turning Off Display of Zeros for All Worksheets

Some people like zero values displayed; others do not. Excel allows you to easily turn the display on or off for a single ...

Discover More

Changing Gridline Color

Gridlines are very helpful in seeing where cells are located on the screen. You are not limited to black gridlines; ...

Discover More

Creating Superscript and Subscript Buttons

Want a quick way to apply superscript and subscript to selected text within a cell? This tip shows how the formatting can ...

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 0 + 7?

2020-05-24 23:36:22

bob

how about excel 2007?


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.