When working with images in Excel it is important to take control over the various settings to avoid presentation becoming sub-standard over time.
A common application of the use of images in financial models is pasted logos in Cover Sheets, Executive Summaries and Data Books etc. It is particularly important to make sure that logos are presented correctly, especially if you are working with someone else’s logo.
I won’t go in to the aesthetics or marketing rules of how to display an image in Excel but rather focus on some of the more technical details to ensure that your images last a long time.
Paste the original image
We will be working with the logo of my company, Corality.
The first step is to copy the image from another document and then paste it in Excel.
I have found that working with ‘Picture (Enhanced Metafile) works well so I tend to stick with this option in the Paste Special menu.
1. Snap to Grid
The first operation I would recommend is to use Snap to Grid to size the image horizontally.
Using Snap to Grid aligns the image/logo with the grid lines and gives a more organized feel to your document.
2. Object Positioning
If someone were to go in and change the width of column D the we would get the following outcome which I am sure you have seen before:
The solution to this problem is found in the Format Picture menu and is called ‘Move but don’t size with cells’.
When the ‘Move but don’t size with cells’ option is activated then a user can change the width of column D (or any other column of course) and the size of the image is unchanged. The Snap to Grid functionality is temporarily disabled to allow for this:
3. Insert an Excel Hyperlink
Select the image and click Insert -> Hyperlink (or click ‘Ctrl + K’ – a great shortcut that also works in Word and Outlook (and all other MS Office software)
4. Compress your file to reduce the Excel file size
If you are new to working with images and are unsure of resolutions etc of digital images and you have suddenly found that pasting your image has significantly increased your Excel file size the ‘Compress File’ may be an option for you.
Problems with increased file size generally happen if you are copying a large image from a document or using the Insert Image functionality.
For maximum file size reduction use the following settings in the Compress Pictures dialog window:
