John,

My first question is one of what are you attempting to do? This may seem a dumb to ask, but I assume you are trying to illustrate something about Excel as opposed to actually trying to use the spreadsheet functionality? If illustration is the objective, then there's no problem combining a screen capture of Excel with an image in Photoshop other than the sizing issues you have already seen. However, if you're attempting to retain a functional spreadsheet but provide an image underlay, then you'd have to follow something akin to Mike's advice.

Between 2 PCs, I have both Office XP and 2000, and indeed Office 2000 lacks the insert picture capability for the header/footer format that Office XP provides. Again, depending upon your objective, you may find it suitable to use the Excel Format > Sheet > Background option to apply your image as a background. The potential drawback here is that the Excel Help states background patterns will not print, nor will they be saved in worksheets saved in HTML format. To retain the background in the saved file, the file must be published as a workbook. If you play with this, you may be able to obtain what you're after, but you'll also likely need to adjust the size of your background image so that it tiles onto the worksheet background to your liking.

If you should stick with the Photoshop approach of combining a screen capture of Excel with your image, keep in mind that you can maximize the size (pixel dimensions) of the screen capture by first setting your display resolution to the highest level supported by your video card and/or monitor, and then do the screen capture. If going to a larger display resolution gives you a distorted display that you'd need to adjust your monitor controls for, don't bother...the screen capture will not be distorted and you can quickly revert back to the original display resolution you were using.

Hope that helps,

Daryl

John Cater

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Overlay photo w/ Excel Spreadsheet?