Designing with Illustrations

IN EXCEL, AS WITH OTHER Microsoft Office applications, illustrations are any type of graphical content objects that you want to add to you file. These objects are found on the Ribbon’s Insert tab (see Figure 12-1). You learned about charts in Chapter 11, “Generating Excel Charts,” but there are many other types of graphic objects, including your own photographs and saved images as well as clipart drawings and photographs from Microsoft’s collection.

Figure 12-1. The Ribbon’s Insert tab.

[View full size image]

Adding Saved Pictures

Microsoft defines pictures as any graphic content saved on your computer, which means that this category includes digital photographs as well as lineart or engineering drawings. To insert a picture, select the cell in which you want to place your picture and follow these steps:

You could also add a picture that has not been saved by copying it to the Microsoft Clipboard. With your mouse over the object, right-click to open a context menu. Select Copy to add the image to the Clipboard. In Excel, open the Clipboard by choosing the Home > Clipboard Dialog Box Launcher, and click the image to add it to your worksheet (as shown in Figure 12-2).

Figure 12-2. Adding a picture using the Clipboard.

[View full size image]

Using Clipart

Microsoft Excel includes hundreds of clipart images, but thousands more are available if you have access to the Internet. The images stored as Microsoft clipart are free for you to use without restriction. Using a familiar search interface, you are sure to find a clipart image to suit any topic. Clipart images come in a variety of formats:

• Illustrations Lineart drawings in color and black and white.

• Photographs You can find digital photography on a variety of subjects.

• Video This category includes any moving images, including animated .gif files.

• Audio An audio file plays a sound, such as bells or clapping, when activated.

Choosing Insert > Illustrations > Clip Art from the Ribbon opens the Clip Art pane. The pane opens on the right side of your Excel worksheet and stays open until you close it (see Figure 12-3). To insert a clipart image, follow these step:

1.	Choose Insert > Illustrations > Clip Art. Excel opens the Clip Art pane.
2.	In the Search For box, type a word or phrase that describes the image you want. The more specific you are, the fewer choices will be available. For example, typing business will find people, buildings, currency, and several other options. Typing business telephone will find office phones and people talking on the phone.
3.	Click the Include Office.com content option if you have access to the Internet.
4.	Click the arrow to the right of the Results Should Be box and select the appropriate file type from the drop-down menu (see Figure 12-4). If you are not sure what type of file you are looking for, click the All Media Types option. Figure 12-4. The Clip Art media types.
5.	Click the Go button, or press Enter. Excel displays all of the images that match the search criteria.
6.	Click the desired image, or click the arrow and choose Insert from the menu (see Figure 12-5). Excel inserts the image you selected and opens the Picture Tools Format tab. Figure 12-5. The selected clipart image is inserted into your worksheet. [View full size image]