Saving Shapes, Charts, and Ranges as Images in excel

Excel supports quite a few types of graphics, but it doesn’t provide a way to save the graphic as a separate file for use in another program. For example, you may want a separate PNG or GIF file created from a chart, a shape, SmartArt, or even a range pasted as a picture.

Although Excel doesn’t provide a direct way to export a graphic, here’s a useful trick you can use.

First, a bit of set-up work is required:

1. Right-click the Quick Access toolbar and choose Customize the Quick Access Toolbar. The Quick Access Toolbar tab of the Excel Options dialog box appears.

2. In the upper-left drop-down control, choose Commands Not in the Ribbon.

3. In the list box, scroll down and select Web Options and then click the Add button.

4. In the list box, select Web Page Preview and click the Add button.

5. Click OK to close the Excel Options dialog box. Your Quick Access toolbar now has two new buttons.

 

Here’s how to use these tools to export graphic objects (including charts) from a worksheet. 

1. Make sure that your graphics appear the way you want.

2. Click the Web Page Preview button in the Quick Access toolbar.

A copy of your workbook is converted to an HTML file and is displayed in your default browser.

3. In the browser, right-click a graphic object, choose Save Image As, and specify a location for

the file.

Your browser may have a different, but equivalent, command. Or you can just drag the graphic image to your desktop.

If the quality of the images in your browser is lacking, click the Web Options button in your Quick Access toolbar.

In the Web Options dialog box, click the Browsers tab and make sure Allow PNG as a Graphics Format is enabled. If graphics don’t appear in your browser at all, remove the check mark from Rely on VML for Displaying Graphics in Browser. Next, click the Pictures tab and choose the 120 Pixels Per Inch option. Click OK and do the web preview again. You should see higher-quality graphics (transparent PNG files)

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