Camera Tool – Just Say Cheese!

A picture may be “worth as thousand words”, but sometimes a graphical representation of a chart can use a little support from the source table with the numbers. With the Camera Tool, you can have the Best of Both Worlds.

Though initially hidden on Excel, the Camera Tool can be highly useful when you are presenting a chart and would like to include a resizable image of the source data included within your exhibit.

To find it in Excel 2007, simply right-click your toolbar and choose “Commands Not in the Ribbon”. Then scroll down to Camera and click Add.

To find it in Excel 2003, right-click the toolbar and choose "Customize" / "Commands" and choose "Tools". Then scroll down to the Camera and drag it onto your toolbar.

After that, it is easy (and it hasn’t even been hard…):

1) Select the data table of which you wish to "take a picture" and Click the Camera Icon on your toolbar
2) Then, go to the area on the sheet on which you want the data to appear, and Left-Click
3) Bamm! You have an image of the table (Resize and Reposition if desired).

Bonus! This “image” of your source table is Linked to the original table. Any change you make in the original table will be reflected in the new table you have placed on your chart.

Now, I ask you, is that cool or what! Cheers.