Excel: Save a worksheet as an image file

You can save an Excel worksheet to several formats, but, surprisingly, you cannot save it — or a selection from it — as an image. I would have thought this simple function would have been an option in Excel 2007 or 2010, but it’s not.

Saving to PDF (and then to an image format) is an option if the worksheet is not particularly wide, but as soon as the worksheet stretches over more than one page, PDF is not suitable unless you want to cobble together several PDF files to make one image.

After trying several methods and searching the internet, I figured out the best way to do it; this method works in Excel 2003, 2007, and 2010:

1. Select the worksheet cells containing the data, chart, etc. you want to save as an image (turn off grid lines if you don’t want them too).
2. Copy the selection to the clipboard (Ctrl+C).
3. Open a graphics editor. My personal preference is SnagIt, but Microsoft Paint works just as well.
4. Paste the selection into your graphics editor (Ctrl+V).
5. Save the pasted image as a GIF (suitable for simple line drawings), JPG (suitable for photos only), or PNG (suitable for almost anything).

From my internet searching, it sounds like this is something many people want to do, so it would be good if Microsoft could offer a ‘save as image’ option from Excel.

Aside: Some wit on the internet had this to say about how to save an Excel worksheet as an image:

Take a photograph using your phone, send it to your home email,  then sketch an artist’s impression of said Excel sheet based on the photo content, scan that into your hard drive, send back to work and save it.

Another had this method:

1. Stick a sheet of tracing paper to your monitor.
2. Then make a brass rubbing of the Excel table.
3. Remove the tracing paper and pour plaster of paris over the top.
4. Cover in spray mount and glitter.
5. Shake off the excess and voila!

[Link last checked June 2011]