How to Insert Image in Excel? 3 Easy Ways
(Note: This guide on how to insert image in Excel is suitable for all Excel versions including Office 365)
In Excel, we usually deal with a large amount of data. However, in some cases, the numerical or text data in the cells might not be enough to understand the data completely. In such cases, adding images and charts help provide visual cues to the reader to understand and ascertain the data easily.
In this article, I will show you how to insert image in Excel. You’ll also learn how to insert an image into an Excel cell and lock them to the corresponding cell.
You’ll Learn:
Related Reads:
How to Insert Radio Buttons in Excel? A Step-by-Step Guide
How to Insert PDF in Excel? 5 Easy Ways
How to Insert a Hyperlink in Excel? 3 Easy Ways
How to Insert Image in Excel?
When you want to insert an image in Excel, you cannot copy and paste it into the Excel sheet or cell as we do in Microsoft Word. However, you can insert an image in Excel in 3 simple ways.
Using the Insert Option
Using this option, you can insert images that are stored in your local drive, from the stock image repository, in the cloud, or even from the internet.
- To insert an image, first, select any cell.
- Navigate to Insert. Click on the dropdown from Illustrations. Again, click on the dropdown from Pictures.
Clicking on the Picture dropdown shows you three ways you can insert an image in Excel.
From This Device
If you want to Insert images into your Excel sheet from your computer or other computers you are connected to, you can use this method.
- To insert an image from your local storage, from the Picture dropdown, click on This Device.
- This opens the Insert Picture dialog box. Navigate to the file location, select the image and click on Insert.
Note: To add multiple images, hold the Ctrl key, select multiple images, and then click on Insert.
This inserts the image into the Excel sheet.
From Stock Images
Another way to insert images in Excel is from the stock images. Stock images in Excel is an image repository that contains images that are copyrighted by Microsoft and available for personal and professional use.
- You can search for any image in the search bar and choose the image depending on your preference. You can even select multiple images if you need.
- After selecting the image, click on Insert.
This inserts the image into your Excel sheet.
From Online Pictures
Using this option, you can add images from the internet powered by the Bing search engine.
- Once you click on the Online Pictures option, a dialog box opens. Using the search bar, type in the keyword which shows you relevant images related to your search.
- It is better to enable the Creative Commons only option to show the images which can be used without copyright issues.
- Select the image and click on Insert.
- You can also insert images from your local cloud storage by clicking on the OneDrive option in the Online Pictures dialog box.
This inserts the image in the Excel worksheet.
Edit the Image
Once you have added the image to the chart, you can move and resize the chart using the anchor points. If you want to make additional customizations to the image, you can use the Picture Format ribbon to adjust the color grading, change the image style and size, and align the image depending on your preference.
Suggested Reads:
How to Insert Bullet Points in Excel? 5 Easy Methods
How to Insert a Page Break in Excel? (3 Simple Steps)
How to Insert a Checkbox in Excel? 3 EASY Examples
How to Insert an Image into a Cell in Excel?
When you insert an image using the above methods, the image will be inserted into the sheet. You can now resize and move the image independently.
Did you know, you can insert an image into a cell, snap it to its borders, and make the image a part of the cells like a text?
Consider an example, where you have to showcase a list of brands along with their logos. You will have to make a list on a worksheet with the brand names and their corresponding logos. When you link images to it, you would not want to randomly add the images to the worksheet and move or resize them. Inserting the images in their respective cells makes it easy to refer to them.
After you insert the image, you can link the image to the cells so that the image can be filtered, sorted, and moved along with the cell.
Let us now see how to insert an image into a cell in Excel.
- This is a prerequisite step before you insert the image into the cell. First, make space for the images by extending the cells, rows, and columns based on the size of the image you want to showcase. To learn more on how to change the size of rows and columns, read our article “How to Change Row Height in Excel?”
- Then insert the image/images in the worksheet using the above-mentioned method.
- Once the images are inserted, you can resize each image using the anchor points and move them into their respective cells.
Note: When you resize, it is always better to practice using the anchor points in the corners rather than the sides. This helps in maintaining the aspect ratio and renders the dimension of the image unchanged.
Though the images are inserted into the cell, they are still separate entities. Now, when you select the cells or create a table to perform any operation on the cells, these changes will not apply to the image.
Lock the Image with the Cell
The inserted images are not linked to the cell. As a result, any operation you perform on the cells such as selecting, filtering, and hiding will not apply to the images.
- To lock the image to the cell, first, right-click on the image and click on Format Picture.
- This opens the Format Picture pane on the right side of the worksheet.
- Click on the Size & Properties button. Under the Properties dropdown, click on Move and size with cells.
This locks the image to the cell. Now, when you copy, move, filter, or hide the cells, the corresponding image also gets copied, moved, filtered, and hidden along with the cell.
Also Read:
How to Insert Multiple Rows in Excel? The 4 Best Methods
How to Select Multiple Cells in Excel? 7 Simple Ways
How to Switch Between Sheets in Excel? 6 Useful Methods
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I insert an image into an Excel worksheet?
To insert an image in an Excel worksheet, navigate to Insert. Click on the dropdown from Illustrations>Pictures and choose from where you want to insert the image. You can choose to insert the image from local storage, stock images, or from the internet. Once you click on Insert, the image will be populated in the sheet.
Why can’t I copy and paste an image onto an Excel worksheet?
You cannot copy and paste an image onto an Excel worksheet as you do in Microsoft Word. If you want to add an image in Excel, you will have to go to Insert>Illustrations>Pictures and select the image of your choice.
How do I link an image to a cell in Excel?
First, resize the image to fit a cell. Then, right-click on the image and click on Format Image. Click on the Size & Properties button. Under the Properties dropdown, click on Move and size with cells. This locks the image to the cell.
Closing Thoughts
Inserting images into an Excel worksheet is an integral feature that is widely used and will help the user understand the data easily and effectively.
In this article, we saw how to insert image in Excel in 3 easy ways. We also saw how to insert image into an Excel cell and lock them with the cell.
Please visit our free resources center for more high-quality Excel guides.
Ready to take the next step and hone your skills in Excel?
Simon Sez IT has been teaching Excel for over ten years. For a low, monthly fee you can get access to 140+ IT training courses. Click here for advanced Excel courses with in-depth training modules.
Simon Calder
Chris “Simon” Calder was working as a Project Manager in IT for one of Los Angeles’ most prestigious cultural institutions, LACMA.He taught himself to use Microsoft Project from a giant textbook and hated every moment of it. Online learning was in its infancy then, but he spotted an opportunity and made an online MS Project course - the rest, as they say, is history!
