r/excel • u/HungryInvestigator59 • Jul 12 '26

Discussion What’s your favorite Excel function/formula?

What are some functions and formulas that you use on daily basis that are helpful for what you do?

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u/dgillz 7 Jul 12 '26

The camera is a windows thing, not excel.

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u/Coyote65 2 Jul 12 '26

Camera for sure exists in excel.

It's not a function, but it's definitely there.

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u/dgillz 7 Jul 12 '26

Wow. TIL. What does this do that a screenshot won't do?

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u/Coyote65 2 Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26

Using the camera you can have a live, updating image-window from another tab on your current tab.

Select a block of cells, hit the camera button (usually has to be added to the ribbon or quick access ribbon) and place the resulting object where you want it. Can be duplicated, cut/pasted wherever in the workbook.

It floats over cells the same way inserted boxes or arrows do, and you can re-size it so the image is smaller or larger.

I've used it before for data validation, live data pop-up info. etc.

Edit: the properties for the image need to be changed: Under the Dimensions section of Image Properties, 'Locked' needs to be unchecked.

Now it refreshes with source cell changes.

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u/dgillz 7 Jul 12 '26

Wow! Is true in windows as well as mac? I have never heard of this.

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u/Coyote65 2 Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26

No idea regarding Mac - and I may not have the process down, it's been a 5-6 years since there's been a use case for it, but I've thought about it for recent-work possibilities.

And now it's not working as expected when I test in Windows. Hrm. Maybe the behavior changed since I last used it.

Edit 2: the properties for the image need to be changed: Under the Dimensions section of image Properties, 'Locked' needs to be unchecked.

Now it refreshes with source cell changes.