#excel camera

[goaskdebbie]

Excel Tutorial: Camera Command

[excelmate]

Excel's Camera Feature - The Modern Watch Window

When you have multiple sheets in a workbook or even several workbooks containing data you might want to keep an eye on it’s frustrating having to keep switching from sheet to sheet or having several workbooks open just so you can see what happens in one cell when you make a change to a cell somewhere else.

If you have used Excel for some time you may be aware of the WATCH WINDOW. You can use this to reference any cell in any workbook and ‘see’ what happens to its value as you make changes in another cell. This will work in the same worksheet, different worksheets and different workbooks.

But what if seeing a cell value is not enough? You might be interested in viewing a chart or pivot table or a whole range of cells.

This is where the CAMERA feature comes in handy.

First of all we need to add the CAMERA to the quick access toolbar (QAT) or create a new tab and group if using 2010 to place a button on the ribbon.

To modify the QAT:

      1.      Right click on the QAT

      2.      Select Customize Quick Access Toolbar

      3.      Under Choose commands from: select Commands not in the ribbon

      4.      Scroll down until you find Camera

      5.      Click to select Camera and then click on Add

      6.      Click on OK

Now to use the camera…..

Select the cell or cells you want to ‘take a picture’ of, and click on the Camera icon in the QAT. The mouse pointer will change into cross-hairs. Select the location on the sheet/workbook you want the window to appear in, then click and drag the cursor to create an area in which to show the cells you have just selected.

Then click on

  Click & drag the cursor to get this….

By default the new window will be the same size as the original selection but because this is now an image, it can be resized so that it is not in the way of any existing data in your new sheet/workbook.

If you want to view a chart you can’t simply select the chart itself to take a picture. Highlight calls where the chart is placed, then click on the Camera.

Then do exactly the same as above, click and drag the cursor to create a viewing area. And there you have it. You can now see what is going on in another sheet or workbook and you are not restricted to simply viewing cell data.

In the example below I am displaying the Camera view alongside the original data just to show the resized view.

Now for the word of WARNING:

If you move cells you have taken a picture of, then no problem, but if you move a chart or other ‘floating’ object that sits on top of your selected cells, then it will move away from the Camera window. In the example below, I have coloured in the cells I selected to view the chart. I have then moved the chart across and down, and if you look at the Camera view on the left, you will see that I can still see the same sized area of coloured cells but the chart itself has moved.