Using a Graphic for a Background

In Excel you are not limited to the plain old white or somewhat shaded background for your worksheets. Instead, you can use a graphic image for a background. The effect is much like the backgrounds you see on Web pages--the image used as the background is tiled (repeated) so that it fills the entire background of the worksheet. To use a graphic as a worksheet background, follow these steps:

1. Choose Sheet from the Format menu, then choose Background from the resulting submenu. Excel displays the Sheet Background dialog box. (Click here to see a related figure.)
2. Use the controls in the dialog box to locate and select the graphic image you want to use as a background.
3. Click on OK.

The image is imported and fills the background of your worksheet. To later remove a background, choose Sheet from the Format menu, then choose Delete Background from the resulting submenu.