Using the Shapes Tools

Creating WordArt

Creating SmartArt

Inserting Other Graphics

Formatting Graphics

Working with Graphic Objects

More Tricks with Graphic Objects

MICROSOFT Excel 2010 gives you the tools to create a variety of graphic objects—boxes, lines, circles, ovals, arcs, freeform polygons, text boxes, buttons, and a wide assortment of complex predefined shapes, clip art, and SmartArt graphics. If you already have graphics created in other programs, Excel 2010 imports those graphics as well. Throughout this chapter, you’ll learn how to add graphics to worksheets, but you can use many of the same kinds of effects also when you’re creating charts. First we discuss creating and inserting various kinds of graphic objects, and then we cover formatting and working with them.

Most of your adventures with graphics begin by using the buttons and menus found on the Insert tab on the ribbon, shown in Figure 10-1.

Figure 10-1. The Insert tab contains most of the drawing tools.

Users of Excel 2007 will notice a few new tools on the Insert tab in Excel 2010, namely Screenshot in the Illustrations group, and three new groups: Sparklines, Filter, and Symbols. Sparklines are tiny charts that fit into cells and are discussed in Chapter 20. The Slicer tool in the Filter group is a new PivotTable tool, discussed in Chapter 23 We cover the Screenshot tool on page 431 and the Symbol tool on page 156.