Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007 and 2010. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Copying Pictures with a Macro.

Copying Pictures with a Macro

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 12, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 2007 and 2010


5

Lowell developed a macro to copy select cells' data to a specific location on another worksheet. Some of the source cells contain pictures, and he would like those pictures copied, as well. Lowell wonders how he can get the macro to recognize if a picture is at the source cell and then copy the pictures to the new worksheet along with the data.

If you use the Copy method with the Selection object, you can copy everything—including pictures—from your source to your target. Consider the following short macro:

Sub CopyPict()
    Sheets("Sheet1").Select
    Range("B3:F7").Select
    Selection.Copy
    Sheets("Sheet3").Select
    Range("H8").Select
    ActiveSheet.Paste
End Sub

Assuming that some of the cells within the source range (B3:B7 on Sheet1) contain pictures, then the Paste method will paste those into the target (cell H8 on Sheet3). This technique is, in fact, the same as using copy and paste manually with the information.

If you are identifying and moving information in a different manner (perhaps using an intermediary variable instead of copying to the Clipboard), then it is very possible that the pictures aren't copying. If you need to do some processing of the data before pasting it into the target, you could use the Paste method, as shown above, and then process the data and place it back into the target cell. That would allow the pictures to remain undisturbed at the target.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (11333) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007 and 2010. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Copying Pictures with a Macro.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is one more than 6?

2016-05-10 10:51:34

Gary Lundblad

Can the copy range be dynamic? That is, a cell in your worksheet can specify the range to copy. What I'm looking to do is to have one of a number of pictures copied and pasted into a certain position based on the outcome of a formula. For example, if the answer is 1, then picture number one would be copied and pasted to the spot. If the answer is 2, then picture number 2 would be copied and pasted, etc...

Thank you!

Gary


2016-04-12 22:36:51

murray

Question:
My macros create lots of charts (and picture copies) on different sheets.
Is there a way to construct a table or similar to keep track of what Excel thinks what charts are there and where they are?


2013-04-26 07:45:53

Bryan

There is no need to select!! This is VBA programming 101!

You can replace all 6 lines of your code with 1 line:

Sheets("Sheet1").Range("B3:F7").Copy Sheets("Sheet3").Range("H8")

If you want to have the destination range displayed when the code is finished then you need to add 2 more lines:

Sheets("Sheet3").Select
Range("H8").Select


2012-02-18 12:06:06

Lowell

Thanks for the tip regarding copying pictures with macros.


2012-02-18 05:32:01

kavita

I really needed this tip. Thanks.


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