Excel does not copy images when moving sheet to another workbook

Question

I spent some time today creating some annotated images in Excel. I was worried I would lose the work I had done so I dragged the sheet into an existing workbook to save it there. Once I had moved it, the images and annotations I had made on them using text boxes had not moved over. I just had a blank sheet. Moreover as this was a "move" operation, not a copy, I lost all the work I had done.

The images were embedded, not linked. Also, the annotations were made using normal Office shapes.

I am using Excel desktop app: Microsoft® Excel® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2605 Build 16.0.20026.20076) 64-bit

I am using Windows 10.

This doesn't sound like standard functionality and I'd be alarmed if it was a bug. Any ideas on how to resolve this?

Thanks

Answer 1

Hi @Rob

Thanks to reaching out here.

Please confirm you have old excel file still you have. suppose you have select all your images right click the selected images then select group options then group. the all images will be in one single group now you able to copy and paste in another workbook. best use copy don't use cut or move.

Thanks

Answer 2

AI is telling me this is a bug that has been around for 15+ years. Assuming it's right, how is it possible that nothing has been done to resolve this bug?!?

Answer 3

The described behavior matches known Excel issues where images or shapes do not correctly move or copy when worksheets are moved or copied between workbooks. Similar problems are documented for earlier versions (for example, Excel 2010) where copying or moving sheets that contain images can cause images to be lost or not saved correctly, and these were treated as product bugs that required updates or hotfixes.

For the current Microsoft 365 desktop build, this behavior is not documented as expected or “by design” functionality. It is consistent with a bug in how embedded images and shapes are handled when moving sheets between workbooks.

Given the available information, the supported mitigation pattern is:

1. Keep Excel fully updated so that any fixes for image/shape copy/move issues are applied.
2. Avoid using drag-and-drop “Move” for critical sheets that contain images and annotations; instead, use “Move or Copy…” and create a copy first, verify that images and shapes are present in the target workbook, and only then delete the original sheet.
3. If the issue persists on the latest build, report it through the Microsoft 365 feedback channels so it can be investigated as a regression.

There is no additional documented configuration or registry-based workaround for this scenario in the provided context beyond installing updates and hotfixes when Microsoft publishes them.

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References:

• You cannot save a workbook that contains an image that was copied from another workbook in Excel 2010
• An embedded image is resized when you paste it to another location in an Excel 2010 workbook
• Unable to copy or move sheet in Excel 2016 (16.0.4229.1002)