XL97: Size of Scaled Picture Is Incorrect When Cropped (174195)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
This article was previously published under Q174195

SYMPTOMS

When you crop a picture in Microsoft Excel 97, the size of the area that you cropped from the picture differs from the size of the area you specified in the Format Picture dialog box. For example, if you crop a picture from the left by one inch, the picture may be cropped by two inches.

CAUSE

This problem may occur if you scale a picture so that the height or width of the picture is a value other than 100 percent and you then crop the picture.

Specifically, this problem occurs because Microsoft Excel 97 crops the picture before it scales the picture.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, divide the amount by which you want to crop the picture by the amount by which you scaled the picture, and then enter this value in the Format Picture dialog box. For example, if you want to crop 2.5 inches from the left side of a picture with a width that you scaled to 200 percent (or 2), enter 1.25 in the Left box. To determine this number, divide 2.5 inches by 2 inches.

To crop 1.5 inches from the top of a picture with a height that you scaled to 50 percent (or 0.5), enter 3 in the Top box (1.5 divided by 0.5 is 3 inches).

MORE INFORMATION

When you insert a picture into a worksheet or chart in Microsoft Excel 97, you can change the appearance of the picture by clicking the picture and clicking Picture on the Format menu.

You can change the scale of the selected picture by clicking the Size tab, and then changing the values in the Height or Width boxes. Using a value larger than 100 percent causes the picture to increase in size; using a value smaller than 100 percent causes the picture to decrease in size.

You can also crop, or trim, a picture by clicking the Picture tab, and then changing the values in the Left, Right, Top, or Bottom boxes.

When you crop a picture that is also scaled, Microsoft Excel crops the picture before scaling the picture. For example, if you create a picture that is 5 inches wide, scale the width of the picture to 200 percent, and then crop 1 inch from the left side of the picture, the result is a picture with a width of 8 inches. When you do this, Microsoft Excel uses the following calculation to determine the width of the picture:

(5 - 1) * 200 = 8

The result is not a picture with a width of 9 inches as in the following calculation:

(5 * 200) - 1 = 9

You can determine the size of a picture by clicking the Size tab in the Format Picture dialog box. The original size appears near the bottom of the dialog box.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:10/19/2000
Keywords:kbprb KB174195
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