Inserting images in excel

Watch Video – How to Insert Picture into a Cell in Excel 

A few days ago, I was working with a data set that included a list of companies in Excel along with their logos.

I wanted to place the logo of each company in the cell adjacent to its name and lock it in such a way that when I resize the cell, the logo should resize as well.

I also wanted the logos to get filtered when I filter the name of the companies.

Wishful Thinking? Not Really.

You can easily insert a picture into a cell in Excel in a way that when you move, resize, and/or filter the cell,  the picture also moves/resizes/filters.

Below is an example where the logos of some popular companies are inserted in the adjacent column, and when the cells are filtered, the logos also get filtered with the cells.

This could also be useful if you’re working with products/SKUs and their images.

When you insert an image in Excel, it not linked to the cells and would not move, filter, hide, and resize with cells.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to:

• Insert a Picture Into a Cell in Excel.
• Lock the Picture in the cell so that it moves, resizes, and filters with the cells.

Insert Picture into a Cell in Excel

Here are the steps to insert a picture into a cell in Excel:

1. Go to the Insert tab.
2. Click on the Pictures option (it’s in the illustrations group).
3. In the ‘Insert Picture’ dialog box, locate the pictures that you want to insert into a cell in Excel.
4. Click on the Insert button.
5. Re-size the picture/image so that it can fit perfectly within the cell. 
6. Place the picture in the cell.
   • A cool way to do this is to first press the ALT key and then move the picture with the mouse. It will snap and arrange itself with the border of the cell as soon it comes close to it.

If you have multiple images, you can select and insert all the images at once (as shown in step 4).

You can also resize images by selecting it and dragging the edges. In the case of logos or product images, you may want to keep the aspect ratio of the image intact. To keep the aspect ratio intact, use the corners of an image to resize it.

When you place an image within a cell using the steps above, it will not stick with the cell in case you resize, filter, or hide the cells. If you want the image to stick to the cell, you need to lock the image to the cell it’s placed n.

To do this, you need to follow the additional steps as shown in the section below.

Lock the Picture with the Cell in Excel

Once you have inserted the image into the workbook, resized it ti fit within a cell, and placed it in the cell, you need to lock it to make sure it moves, filters, and hides with the cell.

Here are the steps to lock a picture in a cell:

1. Right-click on the picture and select Format Picture.
2. In the Format Picture pane, select Size & Properties and with the options in Properties, select ‘Move and size with cells’.

That’s It!

Now you can move cells, filter it, or hide it, and the picture will also move/filter/hide.

Try it yourself.. Download the Example File

This could be a useful trick when you have a list of products with their images, and you want to filter certain categories of products along with their images.

You can also use this trick while creating Excel Dashboards.

You May Also Like the Following Excel Tutorials:

• Insert a Picture in a Comment in Excel.
• Insert Line Break in Excel Formula result.
• Picture Lookup Technique using Named Ranges.
• How to Insert Watermark in Excel Worksheets.
• How to Lock Cells in Excel.

While my recommendation is to take advantage of the automation available from Doality.com specifically Picture Manager for Excel

The following vba code should meet your criteria. Good Luck!

This code will insert the image into the chosen cell and will scale it to fit the exact width and height of the cell. For example:

Instructions:

Add a Button Control to your Excel Workbook (click Developer tab, Insert, Active X, Command Button) and then double click on the button in order to get to the VBA Code —>

Sub Button1_Click()
    Dim filePathCell As Range
    Dim imageLocationCell As Range
    Dim filePath As String

    Set filePathCell = Application.InputBox(Prompt:= _
        "Please select the cell that contains the reference path to your image file", _
            Title:="Specify File Path", Type:=8)
            
     Set imageLocationCell = Application.InputBox(Prompt:= _
        "Please select the cell where you would like your image to be inserted.", _
            Title:="Image Cell", Type:=8)

    If filePathCell Is Nothing Then
       MsgBox ("Please make a selection for file path")
       Exit Sub
    Else
      If filePathCell.Cells.Count > 1 Then
        MsgBox ("Please select only a single cell that contains the file location")
        Exit Sub
      Else
        filePath = Cells(filePathCell.Row, filePathCell.Column).Value
      End If
    End If

    If imageLocationCell Is Nothing Then
       MsgBox ("Please make a selection for image location")
       Exit Sub
    Else
      If imageLocationCell.Cells.Count > 1 Then
        MsgBox ("Please select only a single cell where you want the image to be populated")
        Exit Sub
      Else
        InsertPic filePath, imageLocationCell
        Exit Sub
      End If
    End If
End Sub

Then create your Insert Method as follows (this can follow the button’s code from above):

Private Sub InsertPic(filePath As String, ByVal insertCell As Range)
    Dim xlShapes As Shapes
    Dim xlPic As Shape
    Dim xlWorksheet As Worksheet
    
    If IsEmpty(filePath) Or Len(Dir(filePath)) = 0 Then
        MsgBox ("File Path invalid")
        Exit Sub
    End If
    
    Set xlWorksheet = ActiveSheet
    
    Set xlPic = xlWorksheet.Shapes.AddPicture(filePath, msoFalse, msoCTrue, insertCell.Left, insertCell.Top, insertCell.Width, insertCell.Height)
    xlPic.LockAspectRatio = msoCTrue
End Sub