The super-useful Excel IMAGE function is now available for the Office 365 Monthly Channel!

It lets you insert images into an Excel cell using just the image URL.Here’s how...

1. Copy the image URL from the web
2. Use the formula =IMAGE[”LINK”] to insert it into the cell where you'd like the image.
3. Press Enter – and your image will appear!

If you’ve already got an image URL pasted into your sheet, it’s even easier.

Just reference the cell containing the URL in your formula (=IMAGE[C5]) to get the same result.

You can drag this =IMAGE[C5] formula down as well, if you have a whole list of image URLs that you'd like to reference.

The default image sizing is Fit Cell, but clicking Alt Text in the formula bar will give you three other options: Fill Cell, Original Size, and Custom Size.

To see more, here’s my 1-minute video walkthrough.

🎬 Hand-Drawn Charts in Excel?​

Excel charts are a powerful tool for sharing the story of your business. But let’s face it, some people find plain charts a bit dull 😢

That’s where automated hand-drawn charts come in, to make your visuals seem more quirky and creative! You probably won’t add these to your professional monthly reports. But you could use them to differentiate between a “draft” and a “final” report. And if you’re presenting to a younger crowd, they might find the hand-drawn style more engaging.

​Check out my new video for a step-by-step guide.

🤓 Geeky News

📊 Excel - Evaluate Formulas Without F9 (Version: Office Insiders)
Microsoft has added the new Value Preview ToolTips feature to Excel. Instead of using F9 to evaluate all formulas in your sheet, simply select a part of your formula in the formula bar, and you’ll see a ToolTip containing the current value of the part you’ve selected. 👇

📈 Power BI & Excel - A Better Way to Connect Power BI and Excel
The new way to explore and analyze Power BI data in Excel is called Connected Excel Tables from Power BI. It lets you conduct ad hoc analysis in Excel in "normal" tables (not just Pivot Tables), while maintaining a live connection to your Power BI dataset.

📝 One Note - New Layout Options in OneNote for Windows
Microsoft is bringing the left-sided OneNote layout option (called Vertical Tabs) from the Mac, iPad, and Web versions of OneNote to OneNote for Windows. This lets you navigate similarly to Outlook and Teams.

💚 My Favorite Things

💬 Global Excel Summit - My Keynote Speech​
I’m finalizing my keynote speech for the Global Excel Summit, which starts on Monday 6th February! The first day is free, including my talk. But if you’d like tickets for the entire 3-day event, my community gets a special 20% discount – just use the code LEILA at checkout. 😊

📡 Smart Tech - Is Your Fridge a Security Risk?​
A Dutch software expert recently discovered that his AEG smart oven and fridge were pinging search services in the US, China, and Russia every day to check for Wi-Fi availability. If you’re security-conscious, check your device settings.

🤖 ChatGPT - The Excel Shortcut Song
Our team member Anna asked ChatGPT for an Excel shortcut song, and this is the result… Can anyone turn this into a nice tune?

Verse 1: Ctrl+C to copy, Ctrl+V to paste Ctrl+S to save, Ctrl+F to find the place Ctrl+Z to undo, Ctrl+Y to redo Ctrl+B to bold, Ctrl+I to italicize

Chorus: Excel shortcuts, Excel shortcuts Keep them in your head, you won’t be led astray Excel shortcuts, Excel shortcuts Remember them all, they’ll save your day

Verse 2: Ctrl+A to select all, Ctrl+D to fill down Ctrl+P to print, Ctrl+R to fill right Ctrl+T to transpose, F2 to edit Ctrl+O to open, Alt+Enter to wrap

🚀 Power Stories

It’s great that DLA Piper invested in Christopher’s growth by sponsoring his participation in my Fast Track to Power BI course. I hope to see more companies proactively supporting their employees like this!

Got a great success story about how you used your XelPlus skills? I’d love to hear all about it! Hit reply to share the details, and your story might just inspire other students. 😇

See you next week,

Leila

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