Graphics in a Comment

This is one of those, now why didn’t I do that before techniques.

I bought the book VBA and Macros for Microsoft Office Excel 2007 by Bill Jelen and Tracy Syrstad, the other week and in there is a simple tip that I really felt I ought to have used before now: putting a graphic in a comment. Here’s a screenshot of the finished product where I have got a series of data, have prepared a chart, saved a graphic of that chart and then used simple setting up techniques to get Excel to put that graphic in the comment I created for cell B3:

This is what you do:

• enter your data in a worksheet
• create the chart of your choice
• save that chart as a graphic file … how you do that is up to you!
• create a comment: right click the cell and click Insert Comment
• right click the cell with the comment in and with the cursor somewhere over the comment and click Format Comment
• now click the Colors and Lines tab then click the down arrow for Fill Color
• now click Fill Effects at the bottom
• now choose Select Picture and do just that from wherever and whichever you want
• click OK, OK and bingo you should have done what I just did!

I like this idea for, for example, training purposes. You might have a standard worksheet for data analysis and need someone to create a chart from it … in a comment with a graphic you can simply put an example of what the chart should look like.

Great!

In the Jelen and Syrstad book there is a macro/VBA to put a dynamic graphic in your comment but I can’t get it to work! Doh!

Duncan Williamson