Hover pictures

Q: I maintain an organizational chart in Excel, and I’d like to know if it is possible to have a picture of each employee pop up when I hover over his or her name?

A: Yes, you can add pop-up pictures in Excel 2013, 2010, 2007, and 2003 by inserting comments containing employee pictures, as follows:

1. In Excel, right-click on an employee’s name and, from the resulting pop-up menu, select Insert Comment.

2. Delete your username, which appears in the comment box.

3. Right-click on the edge of the comment box and select Format Comment. On the Color and Lines tab, select the Color dropdown menu and select Fill Effects as pictured below.

4. In the resulting Fill Effects dialog box, from the Picture tab, click the Select Picture option, browse to and select the desired picture, and click OK as pictured below.

5. Check the box labeled Lock picture aspect ratio, and then click OK, OK.

6. If the employee’s picture does not fit in the comment box, as is the case in picture 1 below, drag the grab handles to resize the resulting comment box until the picture fits. The result may produce a comment and picture that is too large, as is the case in picture 2 below. Hold the Shift key down and again drag the grab boxes to resize both the comment box and picture to the desired size, as shown in picture 3 below.

7. Repeat these steps for each name on your organizational chart, and the result will be an organizational chart that pops up the picture of each employee when you hover over his or her name.

J. Carlton Collins (carlton@asaresearch.com) is a technology consultant, a CPE instructor, and a JofA contributing editor.

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