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Excel - Hidden Excel Features: The Shift Key Trick for Paste Picture & Close All - Episode 896

2,073 views · Published 6 January 2009 · 4:12 · Indexed 12 November 2026

Channel: MrExcel.com · 2009 · Education

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Microsoft Excel Tutorial:  Hidden Excel Features: The Shift Key Trick for Paste Picture & Close All.

Welcome back to the MrExcel netcast! I'm Bill Jelen and we are starting our second decade at MrExcel. Today, I want to talk about something that has been driving me crazy and I finally figured it out. I'm talking about the Paste Picture icon in Excel 2003. For those of you using Excel 2007, I apologize for being behind the times, but bear with me.

You may have noticed that when you hold down the Shift key and open the File menu, the Close option changes to Close All. Similarly, on the Edit menu, holding down the Shift key changes the Paste options to Paste as Picture and Paste as Picture Link. These are incredibly useful features, but for some reason, they are not available to add to the toolbar through the Customize option.

After some experimentation, I discovered that while the Customize dialog box is open, holding down the Shift key and clicking on the File menu will reveal the Close All option. You can then rearrange the icons on your toolbar by holding down the Ctrl key and dragging them. However, I noticed that when I added the Close All or Paste as Picture icons to my toolbar, they would revert back to the regular Close and Paste icons when I let go of the keys. This got me thinking about the concept of "shiftable" icons in Excel 2003.

In Excel 2003, you can hold down the Shift key and click on an icon to perform a different action. For example, clicking on the A to Z icon while holding down the Shift key will sort the data in descending order. I wondered if this same concept applied to the Close and Paste icons on the toolbar. And sure enough, when I held down the Shift key and clicked on the Paste icon, it pasted the data as a picture. So, it turns out that the Paste Picture icon has been on the toolbar all along, we just had to know how to "shift" it.

Unfortunately, this feature was removed in Excel 2007, so you can no longer Shift+click on an icon to perform a different action. But for those of us still using Excel 2003, this is a handy trick to know. So next time you're looking for the Paste Picture or Close All options on your toolbar, just remember to hold down the Shift key and click on the regular Paste or Close icons. Thanks for watching and be sure to tune in for more helpful tips and tricks from MrExcel.

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I could never figure out why Excel 2003 doesn't offer a paste picture icon or a close all icon. You can get to these obscure menu items, but when you try to drag them to the toolbar, they revert back to just paste or close. I will muse about this in Episode 896 with a possible explanation.

Table of Contents:
(00:00) Introduction to MrExcel netcast with Bill Jelen
(00:22) Discussion on a frustrating issue with Excel 2003
(00:35) Shift key function in Excel 2003
(01:00) Customizing toolbar icons with Shift key
(01:59) Special characteristics of icons disappear when copied
(02:09) Exploring the concept of "shiftable" icons
(02:36) Realization that Paste Picture icon was always on toolbar
(03:05) Similar function with Close icon
(03:16) Shift key function no longer available in Excel 2007
(03:49) Clicking Like really helps the algorithm

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This video answers these common search terms:
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