How to Add Camera for Range

Possible Usage Scenarios

The Camera tool in Excel is a hidden but powerful feature that lets you create a live, linked snapshot of any range of cells. Here’s why and when you might use it.

What the Camera Tool Does:

1. Takes a “picture” of a selected range of cells.
2. The “picture” is a live link — if the source cells change, the image updates automatically.
3. You can move or resize the image anywhere on the sheet or even to another sheet.

How to Use the Camera Function in Excel

Here’s a step-by-step guide to using the Camera Tool in Excel — a powerful way to create live, dynamic images of cell ranges.

Enable the Camera Tool

The Camera tool is hidden by default. Here’s how to add it:

1. Click the down arrow on the Quick Access Toolbar (top‑left corner of Excel).
2. Choose More Commands…
3. In the dialog: From the “Choose commands from” dropdown, select Commands Not in the Ribbon. Scroll down and select Camera. Click Add » to add it to the toolbar.
4. Click OK. You’ll now see a small camera icon in your toolbar.

Use the Camera Tool

1. Select the cell range you want to capture (e.g., A1:C5).
2. Click the Camera icon on the Quick Access Toolbar.
3. Your cursor will change to a crosshair.
4. Click anywhere in the worksheet where you want to place the image. A live picture of the selected range is inserted.

Dynamic Linking

The image is linked to the original cells. If the values or formatting in the source range change, the image updates automatically.

How to Add a Camera for a Range in Aspose.Cells for .NET

Aspose.Cells supports displaying the contents of a cell or range in an image shape. You can link the picture to the cell or range that contains the data that you want to display. Since the cell or range is linked to the graphic object, changes that you make to the data in that cell or range automatically appear in the graphic object.

Here’s a basic example of how to use the Camera function using the sample file in Aspose.Cells for .NET:

1. Load the sample file using the Workbook class.
2. Add a picture to the worksheet by calling the AddPicture method of the ShapeCollection collection (encapsulated in the Worksheet object).
3. Specify the cell range by using the Formula attribute of the Picture object.
4. Update the shape’s selected value in the worksheet.

Output Result

The following screenshot shows the camera of range A1:E12 created by Aspose.Cells for .NET in the output Excel file.

Before adding data:


After adding data: