IMAGE Function – Google Sheets

Adam Steinfurth

The IMAGE function lets a spreadsheet user insert a picture file into a cell. You must specify the source of the picture file as a URL.

Syntax

=IMAGE(url,[mode],[height],[width])

  • url – The location of the picture on the web – (“https://www.wheremypicis.com/mypic.png”). You must either use quotation marks around the URL or put the address in another cell and reference it.
  • [mode] – Optional size specification.
    • 1 – Resize to fit the cell as much as possible while retaining the aspect ratio so the picture does not distort.
    • 2 – Fit the entire cell. This will disregard the aspect ratio.
    • 3 – Maintains original size even if it gets cropped.
    • 4 – Custom see height and width below
  • [height] – If you specify 4 for custom mode, use this for the height.
  • [width] – If you specify 4 for custom mode, use this for the width.

Video Tutorial

YouTube player

Errors

#N/A – The function does not have enough arguments. This error can occur because you used option #4 but did not specify height and width arguments.

Examples

These examples use the same image but scale it with different techniques. Note that if you specify 4 for custom scaling, you will receive an error if you omit the dimensions.

Different images output by differing IMAGE functions.
IMAGE Examples

Live Examples in Sheets

Go to this spreadsheet for examples of the IMAGE function shown above that you can study and use anywhere you would like.