Welcome to the spoken tutorial on Inserting Images and inbuilt Graphics in a spreadsheet.
In this tutorial, we will learn to: Insert an image into a spreadsheet and Format the image
This tutorial is recorded using Ubuntu Linux OS version 18.04 and LibreOffice Suite version 6.3.5
Images can be added into a spreadsheet Directly from a graphics program or With the help of a clipboard or From the Calc gallery
We will discuss each one of them in detail.
Let us open our Personal-Finance-Tracker.ods file.
This file and images have been provided to you in the Code files link on this tutorial page
Please download and extract the files to a folder on your Desktop
Make its copy and use it for practising
It is a good practice to select a cell and then insert an image. Let’s click on cell C2.
Now, click on the Insert Image icon in the Standard toolbar.
Alternatively, you can click on the Insert menu in the menu bar. And then click on the Image option.
Either ways the Insert Image dialog box opens.
Now locate the image that you want to insert on your computer.
I have saved some images on my Desktop in a folder named Images.
These images are available in the Code files link below the player, as mentioned earlier.
I will choose Image1 from my computer.
Then click on the Open button at the top right corner.
Observe that the image is displayed in the spreadsheet.
But, the image is covering up some of the data. So we have to resize the image.
When the image is selected, we see handles around it.
Click and drag any of the corner handles to resize the image proportionally.
Now let’s move the image.
Place the cursor on any one of the borders till the cursor turns into a hand.
Click and move the image to the desired location and then release the mouse button.
Now, we can see our data and the image clearly.
When the image is selected, the Formatting toolbar shows options related to image only.
We will learn more about these options later in this tutorial.
To exit the Image edit mode, click anywhere outside the image.
Let us insert another image by hyperlinking it.
For this part of the demonstration, we will work on Sheet 2. So, click on the Sheet 2 tab at the bottom.
In Sheet 2, we will select cell A2.
Then click on the Insert Image icon in the Standard toolbar.
Insert Image dialog box opens up.
This time I will choose Image2 from my computer.
Locate the image that you want to insert on your computer.
To link the image to the spreadsheet, check the Insert as Link checkbox at the bottom left.
Then click on the Open button at the top right corner.
The Confirm Linked Graphic dialog box appears.
Check the option Ask when linking the graphic if not already checked by default.
Then click on the Keep Link button.
The image is now hyperlinked to this spreadsheet.
When we link an image: First, it reduces the size of the spreadsheet as our spreadsheet does not contain the image.
Second, it enables the user to modify both the files separately.
Changes made to the image file are reflected in the linked image in the spreadsheet.
Let's save and close our spreadsheet now.
Go to the folder where all the images are saved.
Rename Image2 as Image2-old and rename Image3 file as Image2.
Let us open our Personal-Finance-Tracker.ods file once again.
Notice that Image2 in the spreadsheet has now changed.
However, one major disadvantage of hyperlinking a file is that
Whenever you want to send this spreadsheet to a different computer or user
You will have to send both the spreadsheet as well as the image file.
Which means, you have to keep track of the location where you are saving both the files.
Next, let’s learn another method of inserting images into a spreadsheet.
This is done by dragging and dropping the image from its saved folder location.
Go to the folder where all the images are saved.
Now drag-and-drop Image2-old directly into the spreadsheet wherever you want to place it.
I will place it in this empty space.
The image gets inserted into our spreadsheet.
Let’s undo this change.
Next let us hyperlink the same image using the drag-and-drop method. This method is easy too!
Go to the folder where all images are saved.
Hold the Control and Shift keys together and then click on Image2-old. Now drag the image onto the spreadsheet.
The image is now hyperlinked to this spreadsheet.
Save and close the spreadsheet now.
Once again go to the folder where all the images are saved. Let’s rename the file Image2-old as Image4.
Now re-open the Personal Finance Tracker.ods file again.
The hyperlinked image is no longer visible in the spreadsheet.
The hyperlinked path shows an error!
So, let’s delete this hyperlink.
To do so, click on the hyperlinked path shown as an error. This will select the missing image.
Now press the Delete key on the keyboard. The missing hyperlinked image is deleted.
Next we will learn how to insert images from the clipboard.
We can copy images stored on the clipboard, from one spreadsheet to another.
Let's open a new spreadsheet, which will be our target file.
We already have images in Personal-Finance-Tracker.ods. This spreadsheet is our source file.
Now select Image2 from the source file which is to be copied.
Press CTRL and C keys together to copy the image.
The image is now saved on the computer’s clipboard.
Now switch to the target document, which is Untitled 1.
Select the location where you wish to place the saved image in Untitled 1.
Now press CTRL and V keys together to insert the image into the spreadsheet.
The image is inserted into our target file.
Close the Untitled 1 document without saving it.
Next let us explore the other options available in the Picture toolbar.
For this part of the demonstration we will work on Sheet 1. Click on the Sheet 1 tab at the bottom.
Now let’s click on Image1.
The Formatting toolbar changes to the Picture toolbar.
Here, we see various tool icons to edit an image.
If you have resized your LibreOffice window, some of the icons may not be visible.
In that case, click on the double arrow icon at the end of the toolbar to see the hidden icons.
Click on the drop-down of the Filter option.
From the pop-up menu, let’s click on the Charcoal Sketch option. Observe the change in Image1.
Next let’s see how to crop this image. Make sure that the image is selected.
Now click on the Crop image icon in the Picture toolbar.
We see blue colored handles appear around the image.
Click and drag any one of the handles, as shown.
Then click anywhere outside the image to exit from the Image editing mode.
The image gets cropped as per our selection.
There are other options on the Picture toolbar which you can explore on your own later.
Now we will learn how to insert images directly from the Calc Gallery.
Gallery has images as well as sounds which we can insert in our spreadsheet. Let’s see how to do this.
Click on the Insert menu in the menu bar.
From the sub-menu go to the Media option and click on Gallery to open it.
Alternately, click on the Gallery icon on the Sidebar which is at extreme right. This opens the Gallery section.
We can see various folders which have inbuilt images which we can use.
Select the Finance folder by clicking on it.
Then drag-and-drop the image ATM01 into the spreadsheet.
We see that the image gets inserted into our Personal-Finance-Tracker.ods file. Likewise you can insert and format any image in your spreadsheet.
We don’t need the ATM01 image anymore, so we will delete it.
Then close the Gallery section by clicking on the X icon besides Gallery.
Lastly save and close the file.
This brings us to the end of this tutorial, let us summarize.
In this tutorial, we learnt to insert an image into a spreadsheet in many different ways like From a file, From the clipboard and From the Calc gallery
We have also learnt how to: Move and resize the image, Apply a filter to the image and Crop the image
As an assignment Open Spreadsheet-Practice.ods file
Insert an image as a link in Sheet 2 , Save and close the file.
Go to the folder where the image is saved. Now rename the image.
Open and check if the image is still visible in the spreadsheet.
Now rename the image back to its original name.
Check if the image is visible in the spreadsheet.
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This tutorial was originally contributed by DesiCrew Solutions Pvt. Ltd. in 2011 This is Arvind along with Spoken Tutorial team from IIT Bombay signing off. Thank you for watching.