Does the Excel IMAGE function work with local or embedded pictures?
No — Excel's IMAGE function only loads a picture from a web (https) URL you pass it, so it can't show a local file or a picture already embedded in your workbook or PDF, whereas bnbff rebuilds each embedded photo into the cell as a real in-cell image with no URL to host. Excel's IMAGE function takes an image address as its first argument and fetches that picture from the web, so the source has to be a public https URL — it cannot reference a file on your computer or a picture that is already sitting inside the workbook or a PDF. That means IMAGE can't display photos you already have locally or embedded; you would first have to upload each one somewhere public and hand it a URL. bnbff takes the opposite route: it reconstructs the actual embedded photo from a gridlined spreadsheet PDF and anchors it into the cell as a real in-cell image, so there is no URL to host and the file opens in any modern Excel.
Updated July 2026
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See your own file's photos land in real Excel cells — free, first 5 rows — before you pay a cent. No account needed.
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Drop your PDF
A spreadsheet-style export with real gridlines — the kind Google Sheets or Excel produces.
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bnbff builds a real 5-row .xlsx sample — photos already rebuilt into their cells — so you can open it and confirm before paying.
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A real, editable .xlsx with every row and every picture back in its own cell. Files are deleted within an hour.
How bnbff compares
| Tool | Photo back in each cell | How images are handled | Price | Excel version needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bnbff | Yes — automatic | Each embedded photo is rebuilt into the cell it came from | $3 per file, one-off | Any modern Excel |
| Most PDF-to-Excel converters | No | Table text only — images are dropped or handed back as loose files | Free to subscription | Any |
| OCR tools | No | The picture is read as text; the image itself isn't kept | Free to subscription | Any |
| Excel's built-in Place-in-Cell | Manual | You insert each picture into its cell by hand | Built in | Microsoft 365 / Excel 2024 |
The mechanism
Where Excel's IMAGE function only points a cell at a hosted URL, bnbff rebuilds the real embedded photo and anchors it into the cell itself — no web address required.
What bnbff can and can't do
Works
Spreadsheet-style PDFs with real vector gridlines — tables exported from Google Sheets or Excel, including multi-section documents (one sheet per detected table) and any column headers.
Doesn't work
Scanned or image-only PDFs and designed, laid-out catalogs with no gridlines. There is nothing structured to read, so bnbff declines them for free rather than charge you for a file it can't build.
Frequently asked
Can Excel's IMAGE function display a local or embedded picture?
No. Excel's IMAGE function loads a picture from a web (https) URL you give it as the first argument; it can't point at a file on your computer or at a picture already embedded in a workbook or PDF. To show pictures you already have locally or embedded, the image has to be placed into the cell itself — which is exactly what bnbff does automatically.
Do I have to insert each picture myself?
No. That is the whole point — bnbff rebuilds every embedded photo into its own cell automatically. You don't drag images in one by one, and you don't need Excel's manual Place-in-Cell feature or the IMAGE function.
Do I need Excel 2024 or Microsoft 365?
No. bnbff writes a standard .xlsx with the photos already anchored in their cells, so it opens in any modern Excel — no special version, add-in or VBA macro required.
How are the photos handled?
Every embedded photo is rebuilt into its own cell — the real picture, right where it belongs. bnbff takes each embedded picture from the PDF and reconstructs it inside the exact Excel cell it came from.
How much does it cost?
The first 5 rows are a free, real .xlsx sample so you can check the result. The full file is a one-off $3 — no account and no subscription.
Ready to keep your pictures in the cells?
Upload your spreadsheet PDF and see the free 5-row sample first — you only pay $3 when there's a file to download.
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