Excel Tip of the Week: Linked Picture

Today’s topic is how to create a linked picture.

A linked picture is a feature in Excel that allows you to create a dynamic snapshot of a range of cells in another area of your spreadsheet. There are many reasons for using a linked picture. For example, if you are working in one sheet, but would like to see how your changes are affecting numbers in another sheet.

Below are the steps to create a linked picture in the example spreadsheet which you can download here. The example spreadsheet is a real estate pro forma along with a mortgage schedule. In the example you will see how the total cash flow changes as you vary the interest rate on the debt.

1)      Go to the sheet labeled “The Courtyard”
2)      Navigate to and then highlight the “Cash Flow After Tax” line (E22:J22)
3)      Copy
4)      Move to the Mortgage Schedule Page
5a)    PC:  Paste as a linked picture: From the Home menu click on the Paste button and then click on the “Linked Picture” icon, shown below (Keyboard shortcut: Alt → H → V → I)

5b)   Mac: While holding down the Shift button, from the menu bar click on “Edit” then click on “Paste Picture Link.” You HAVE TO hold down the Shift button or you won’t see the option to paste as a linked picture.
6)      Now to see the linked picture in action move to cell D6 and change the interest rate.

Linked pictures can also be useful for printing different and separate ranges all on one page. Also, they can be useful for showing information you don’t want other users to alter.