Question :

I am using Excel (from Microsoft Office) and I want to put the chart I’ve just made on top of a picture. How can I do that ?

Answer :

In Excel v14 (from MS Office 2011 for Mac), this can be done like this :

1- create the chart

2- select the chart area (you will see a bold, light blue frame around the entire chart area), then click the “Charts>Format”-tab (the purple tab in-between the green tabs), then in “Current Selection” click the “Format Selection”-button

3- in the window that opens select “Fill”, then the “Solid”-tab, and set the “Color:”-dial to “No Fill” and click “OK”

4- select the chart itself (inside the chart area – you will see a black lined square with light blue dots on the corners around the actual chart), then again, click “Charts>Format”-tab (the purple tab in-between the green tabs), and again, in “Current Selection” click the “Format Selection”-button

5- in the window that opens, again select “Fill”, then the “Solid”-tab, and set the “Color:”-dail to “No Fill” and click “OK”

6- then de-select the chart

7- in the upper Excel menu bar that’s fixed in the Finder, select the “Insert”-tab, and from the drop down menu that appears, select “Photo > Picture From File” and in the “Choose a Picture”-window that appears, select the image you need and click “OK”

8- the image will appear on top of your chart, now first resize it (by dragging the light blue corner-dots) and place it over your chart area

9- select the image (again, if it’s not already selected), click the “Format Picture”-tab and remove the background color(s) of the image if you need (using the “Remove Background”-option from “Adjust”)

10- then, also in the “Format Picture”-tab, select the “Reorder”-option from “Arrange”, and select “Send to Back” from the 4 options that appear in the pulldown menu ; your image will now be behind your chart

11- for fine-tuning, if needed, you can now resize or rearrange the image and the chart until the align exactly as you need them to

12- if you want the Excel-cell-grid behind your chart to disappear also, select the area of cells behind and around your chart and select WHITE (or any other color you need) from small triangle-shaped arrow just next to the “Fill Color”-button (the paint bucket icon)

That’s it !

Enjoy !