Excel 2010: Using ClipArt in Your Spreadsheet
- In This Quick Guide:
- Using ClipArt
- Clip Organizer
Want to include images in your spreadsheet, but you don’t have any of your own? That’s what ClipArt is for. It’s a collection of photos, illustrations, videos, and even audio clips that you can use in your Excel sheets. In this guide, we will look at how to put images in your spreadsheets and how to keep your clip art organized.
Using ClipArt
To begin using ClipArt, click the Ribbon’s Insert tab. In the Illustrations group, you’ll find ClipArt.
This opens the ClipArt pane on the right side of your window. Search for a picture of a computer to include in the spreadsheet. Type in the word computer in the search box, and click the Go button. Microsoft Office ClipArt samples appear.
Search for ClipArt.
Scroll through the list of images to see the different ClipArt that is available. To access more ClipArt online, click Include Office.com content for your search. Excel also shows ClipArt from Microsoft’s website.
When you find a piece of ClipArt, you can insert it into your sheet simply by clicking it.
Notice that the image has now been inserted into the sheet in the upper-left corner. Click and drag to move it and use the green dot on top to rotate it. The Picture Tools, Format tab appears so that you can use many of the picture tools on ClipArt.
Because of the wide variety of color options, you can make any ClipArt match the palette or theme of your spreadsheet by recoloring it.
Recoloring ClipArt.
In addition to inserting ClipArt into your sheet, the ClipArt pane gives you some options. If you hold your mouse over a piece of ClipArt, you see a drop-down arrow appear on the right side of it.
On this option menu, you see Insert, which is the same as clicking on the ClipArt. There is also a Copy option that copies the ClipArt to your Clipboard (so that you can paste it later) but doesn’t insert it directly into your sheet.
Clip Organizer
Notice the options to delete the current clip from your Clip Organizer. Select this option to permanently remove the ClipArt from your system. Options also enable you to copy the selected piece of ClipArt to a different collection, move it to a different collection, edit the ClipArt’s keywords, and preview the ClipArt.
What is the Clip Organizer, anyway? It is a program that comes with Office 2010 that helps you keep all your ClipArt organized.
The Clip Organizer keeps all your ClipArt stored in folders. For example, you have your own collection (My Collection), which starts out empty. Then there are the Office Collections and Web Collections. The Office Collection includes all the ClipArt that’s installed on your system, which came with Office 2010. The Web Collection goes to Microsoft’s Office.com website to gather more ClipArt.
This is where those “copy to collection” and “move to collection” options come in handy. If you find a favorite piece of ClipArt that you plan to use over and over, copy it from the Office or Web Collections to your own personal collection.
For example, click Office Collections, Animals, and then Domestic. Open the drop-down menu on the cow ClipArt, and select copy to collection.
Now select the Favorites folder to place this piece of ClipArt in. Select the New button on the bottom of this menu to create your own collections and folders.
If you click the Edit Keywords option, you get the Keywords dialog box, where you can control what keywords trigger a search for this piece of ClipArt. Notice that the cow is triggered on searches for animals, cattle, cows, dairies, and so on. You can add, modify, or delete the keywords here.
ClipArt keywords.
Now that you know how to use pictures, your Excel spreadsheets will really shine!
From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Microsoft Excel 2010 2-in-1 by Richard Rost
