Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. 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: Capturing a Screen.

Capturing a Screen

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 14, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365


2

There may be times when you need to include a screen shot within your Excel worksheet. Windows makes it rather easy to capture a screen shot. In fact, there are a few ways you can do it. These tips (from our sister WindowsTips website) will help you track down the method that is best for your needs:

https://tips.net/T12560
https://tips.net/T11884
https://tips.net/T12558

If the method you choose results in the screen shot being in the Clipboard, you can then paste it directly into your Excel worksheet. If, instead, the method results in a file being saved to disk, you can place the graphic file into a workbook just as you would any other graphic file.

If you prefer to edit the image before placing it in Excel, you can use your favorite graphic editing program to do the changes. Save the screen short in a graphics file (if your capture method doesn't do it automatically), do the editing, save the edited graphic, and then place it into your worksheet.

You should understand that once the screen is placed in your workbook, you can move and manipulate it the same as any other graphic. Also note that adding quite a few graphics to your worksheet can dramatically increase the size of the file in which your workbook is saved.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12512) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Capturing a Screen.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Using the FORECAST Function

Excel provides a handy worksheet function that allows you to forecast values based upon a set of known values. This ...

Discover More

Creating Long Page Footers

Ever wish that you could create nice, long footers that appear at the bottom of each page when you print your worksheet? ...

Discover More

Printing without Track Changes Marks

If your document has a lot of markup visible in it, you may want to print a copy of the document that doesn't reflect ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Pasting a Graphic to Multiple Worksheets

Do you need to add a logo or other graphic to a bunch of worksheets? Here are a couple of short macros that can make ...

Discover More

Editing Graphic Objects

Want to change the way that a graphics object appears in your worksheet? You need to edit it, then, using the techniques ...

Discover More

Inserting Video into Worksheets

You can add all sorts of objects to your workbooks, including video clips. Here's the pros and cons (along with the ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

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 8 - 2?

2018-01-29 04:52:38

David Robinson

One thing to add is you can prevent your files becoming too large by setting an appropriate resolution for your image. Once you've pasted it into Excel, get it the size you want, and then go to the "Picture Tools" format ribbon. Then you can select "Compress pictures" and set the resolution you want. If the image in your Excel file is smaller than the original screenshot (I usually find they are), this will strip out the redundant detail and give a smaller file size.

Frankly, I often get the image smaller than I want, compress it to minimize file size, and then enlarge it a bit, and it still looks okay.


2018-01-27 17:21:55

Alex B

The absolute fastest way to get a screen shot into any of your MS Office applications is to put the Screen Clipping tool on your quick access toolbar (QAT).
Screen Clipping lets you select an area, if you regularly want a screen shot of the whole applications also put the Screen Capture tool on the QAT (similar result to the Windows Alt+Print Screen, but in one step)

What I found to be the most challenging in the past was capturing the drop down menus.
You can do it using the standard windows snipping tool but it's a bit long to explain here, see:-
https://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/use-the-windows-snipping-tool-to-capture-popup-menus/
Prior to this I would have OneNote running and use Win+S to capture the drop down menu (easier if you have options set to either default to copy to clipboard or not default option so it asks you to send to OneNote or copy to clipboard)



This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.