You've built this cool visual using formulas. Dynamic, clean, exactly what the dashboard needs.

Now you want to add it to the main dashboard sheet. But there's a problem.

If people start clicking around, they might accidentally delete a formula. Or overwrite a cell. And now your carefully crafted visual is broken.

You could protect the sheet. Enter password every time you need to make changes. Or you could get creative.

Take a snapshot instead.

Linked Picture and Camera Tool let you capture your data as an image that updates automatically when the source changes.

But it’s just a picture - an object you can resize and position exactly where you want. No one can mess with the formulas behind it.

Which one should you use? Let’s look at them in turn.

Linked Picture is straightforward.

1. Copy your range (Ctrl + C)

2. Go to Home > Paste dropdown > More Paste Options > Linked Picture.

You now have an image on top of the cells that you can resize and move to the Dashboard sheet.

Your second option is the Camera tool. This takes an extra step to set up.

1. Go to Customize Quick Access Toolbar > More Commands.

2. Choose “Commands not in the ribbon,” find Camera, and add it to your QAT.

Now select your range, click the Camera icon, then click where you want the snapshot to appear.

You now have a live image.

So, are they the same?

Almost. But there are subtle differences worth knowing.

The Camera works with Excel tables as well as ranges. Linked Picture doesn't work on tables.

You'll also notice that the Camera snapshot has a border and a solid background:

Linked Picture is transparent. It gives you a cleaner look when you're placing things on a dashboard:

The important part is: both update live when you change the source.

Your formulas stay safe while your dashboard stays dynamic.

By the way, if you're in our Professional Excel Charts course, you can find this chart in section 4.

🤓 Geeky News

📁 OneDrive gets a big refresh

Microsoft 's rolling out updates to OneDrive, packaged in a brand new Windows app.

It includes updates to file sharing.

The hero link gives you one permanent URL for any file or folder. Want to expand access to your whole org later? Just update the permissions - the link stays the same. No more "can you resend that?" messages.

Add to OneDrive lets you keep your shared folders beside your individual files for easy access.

They're also promising more Copilot functionalities. (For examples how to use Copilot in OneDrive, check out this video.)

🖥️ Accessibility Assistant gets smarter

Microsoft worked with actual screen reader users to see what actually matters when navigating documents.

They updated the rules engine to stop flagging things that don't affect accessibility.

Tables with valid row headers won't trigger alerts anymore since screen readers handle them fine. Same with merged cells in the first row or column, and small tables under four rows.

Fewer false positives means more time spent on issues that actually impact accessibility.

Available now in the latest Microsoft 365 Insiders versions.

🤔 Did You Know?

You're probably used to scrolling down a long spreadsheet.

But what about a wide one?

You can scroll sideways using the mouse wheel.

Just hold down Ctrl + Shift and start scrolling. Down goes right, and up goes left.

See it in action.

🙌 When "the usual" doesn't cut it

Herbert's been charting in Excel for years. Bar charts, line graphs, the basics. Gets the job done.

But when you're in front of clients or management, basic doesn't impress anyone.

Herbert Van der Reysen Director Financial Reporting EMEA

I wanted to explore Excel charting opportunities as I am simply more familiar with Excel, and somehow we always end up working with data in Excel, even if we use Power BI/Query or other performance management tools. The reference guides in this Professional Excel Charts course are excellent. This course will take my charting to the next level, hoping to impress future clients.

The data ends up in Excel anyway. Might as well make charts that make people stop scrolling. The Professional Excel Charts course shows you exactly how.

See you next week,

Leila

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