size of Images changes (Mac - Windows)

Hi Cornelin,

I would like to let you know that we have reported this issue to our related team, and I'd like to post a summary of the issue here so that other community members can easily see the information.

Issue description:

Picture size shows differently in Windows Excel and Mac Excel.  After you insert a picture in Excel for Windows and set the size, the size changes in Excel for Mac when you open the same workbook.

Reason:

There are several factors that cause picture sizes to appear different between the Mac OS and Windows platforms, such that it would be very complex to try to make Excel show the images in exactly the same size on both platforms.

In summary, the Mac OS and Windows use different DPI (dots per inch) for scaling elements, including images.  Generally, MacOS uses 72 DPI and PC uses 96 DPI. Since the images are made of the same number of pixels regardless of the platform, Excel tries to scale the image so that it will be close to the same size on both platforms.  You can see that on the PC, it reports that the original size (in inches) is approximately 25% smaller than on the Mac (because DPI is 25% less on the Mac).

Also, the main priority for Excel is to size the image in the sheet proportional to the cells so the image can be approximately the same in inches (and you can see that they report a different scaling as well from the original size).  However, the height and width of rows and columns in Excel are also calculated differently due to DPI between the platforms, so the image may not appear in the exact same position in Mac Excel and Windows Excel.  Rounding issues during scaling may further contribute slight differences. Printer specifications and settings may affect font metrics, which can impact the columns widths as well.

Additional information:

We understand that this issue can be a challenge when working with users on both Mac OS and Windows. Unfortunately, we don’t have a way to ensure the images are exactly the same size on both platforms for the reasons mentioned above.  Hopefully with the information provided, you will be able to adjust the size of images and charts so that they can work for users on both platforms.

Regards,

Yoga