Using Shapes to Display Cell Contents

Shapes were known in previous versions of Excel as AutoShapes. Microsoft has added new shapes to the already long list of shapes available in AutoShapes. In addition, Excel 2007 shapes have some new formatting options, such as shadow, glow, and bevel.

Perhaps the best part of shapes is that you can tie the text on a shape to a worksheet cell. For example, the shape is set to display the current value of cell B26. Every time the worksheet is calculated, the text on the shape is updated.

You follow these steps to insert a shape into a worksheet:

1. Select a blank area of the worksheet.
2. From the Insert ribbon, open the Shapes drop-down.
3. Select 1 of the 160 basic shapes
4. The mouse pointer changes to a small crosshair. Click and drag in the worksheet to draw the shape.
5. Choose a color scheme from the Shapes Styles drop-down.
6. Select Shape Effects, Preset and select an effect.
7. Look for a yellow diamond on the shape. It allows you to change the inflection point for the shape. On the rounded rectangle, for example, sliding the yellow diamond controls how wide the rounded corners are.
8. Look for a green circle on the outside of the shape. Drag this circle to rotate the shape, if necessary.
9. To include static text in the shape, click in the middle of the shape and type the text. You can control the style by using the WordArt Styles drop-down. You can control text size and color by using the formatting buttons on the Home ribbon. The shape can include text from any cell, but it cannot perform a calculation. If you want the shape to include a calculated value, skip this step and follow steps 10 through 12.
10. If desired, add a new cell that will format a message for the WordArt. Add the formula ="We are at "&TEXT(B13,"0%")&" of our goal!" to an empty cell to convert the calculation in Cell B13 to a suitable message.
11. Click in the middle of the text box as if you were about to type some text.
12. Click in the formula bar and type =B14 and then press Enter. The shape displays the results from the selected cell.

You can also insert a Shape into a chart. Just select the chart before you choose the Shape from the gallery and then click inside of the chart to insert the Shape. When a chart is selected, the Chart Tools context tab also displays an icon to access the Shape gallery: Chart Tools> Layout> Insert> Shapes.

Working with Shapes

The Drawing Tools section of the Format ribbon contains sections to change the shape style, fill, outline, effects, and WordArt effects.

In the Insert Shapes dialog, you use the Edit Shape, Change Shape command to choose another shape style.

If you right-click a shape and choose Format Shape, Excel displays the Format Shape dialog, with the fine-tuning settings Fill, Line, Line Style, Shadow, 3D Format, 3D Rotation, and Text Placement.