How to apply a background image?

[shreksbro]

This is driving me mad - I find heaps of results on Google, and they all say "format>sheet>background". Where the heck is "format"?!

I've been using Excel 2007 for several years now, and I still can't find anything.

EDIT: found it - there's a 'background' button in the main 'page setup' toolbar. Presumably the 'format>sheet>background' thing was pre-2007.

Now my question is what image dimensions should I use to fill an A4 page? Does Excel have a specific dpi that I need to consider? I have Photoshop experience, I just need to know what Excel is looking for.

[oeldere]

Excel 2007 => Start => the I see a list with back ground colors

[TMS]

On the sheet, press F1 and type "sheet background" without the quotes in the search box:

Add or remove a sheet background

In Microsoft Office Excel, you can use a picture as a sheet background for display purposes only. A sheet background is not printed, and it is not retained in an individual worksheet or in an item that you save as a Web page.

Important Because a sheet background is not printed, it cannot be used as a watermark. You can, however, mimic a watermark by inserting a graphic in a header or footer.

Add a sheet background
Click the worksheet that you want to display with a sheet background. Make sure that only one worksheet is selected.
On the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click Background.


Select the picture that you want to use for the sheet background, and then click Insert.

The selected picture is repeated to fill the sheet.

Notes

To improve readability, you can hide cell gridlines and apply solid color shading to cells that contain data.

A sheet background is saved with the worksheet data when you save the workbook.

Tip To use a solid color as a sheet background, you can apply cell shading to all cells.



Regards, TMS

[shreksbro]

Wow, thanks for the quick replies. I edited my original post while you were responding.

So a background image doesn't print?! What on earth is the point of that?!

I have a sheet that I want to use to generate printed documents, and I need our company stationery layout to appear BEHIND some of the cell data. How can I do this?

[TMS]

What on earth is the point of that?!

Who knows? Make it look pretty while you look at it? Make it difficult to read the contents of the cell(s). Slow down a workbook that is too fast ... like that's going to happen.

Regards, TMS

[TMS]

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[shreksbro]

Gee you really have to wonder at some of the bizarre functionality in Excel.

Looks like a custom header image will work to provide a background for the entire sheet, so i'll run with that. Thanks for your help.