How to Add Images to Smartsheet Cells
Smartsheet can display images directly inside cells — product photos, site inspection shots, logos — which beats burying them as row attachments nobody opens. Inserting one image is easy; the pain starts when you have forty. Here is both the built-in way and the bulk way.
Insert an image into a cell manually
To place a single image in a cell:
- Select the cell that should hold the image.
- In Grid View, click the Insert Image button on the toolbar. In Table View, right-click the cell and choose Upload an image.
- Choose the file and click Open. It has to be a PNG, GIF or JPG (RGB colour) of 30 MB or less, and a cell holds one image at a time.
- The image renders in the cell — click it to open the zoom view, where you can also edit its alt text. Any text already in the cell becomes that alt text; if the cell was empty, the filename is used instead.
Why this breaks down in bulk
The insert dialog handles one cell and one file at a time. You can also copy an image and paste it straight into a cell with Ctrl/Cmd+V — quicker than the browse dialog, though it only works in Chrome or Firefox — but it is still one image into one cell. Forty product photos still means forty rounds by hand, with plenty of chances to drop the wrong photo on the wrong row, and there is still no built-in way to map many image files onto many cells at once.
Embed dozens of images at once
Our Bulk Image Upload tool takes the whole batch in one go: drag and drop dozens of images, and it builds the workspace and embeds each image into its own cell automatically. What used to be an afternoon of cell-by-cell inserting becomes a single drag-and-drop.
Do it in one pass instead
Drag and drop dozens of images at once and embed them straight into Smartsheet cells. Skip the slow, cell-by-cell upload workflow.
Try Bulk Image Upload FreeFrequently asked questions
Can you put a picture in a Smartsheet cell?
Yes. Select the cell, then use the Insert Image button on the toolbar in Grid View, or right-click and choose Upload an image in Table View. The picture displays inside the cell — one image per cell, up to 30 MB, as a PNG, GIF or JPG — and clicking it opens the zoom view.
Can I add multiple images to Smartsheet at once?
Not with the built-in dialog, which inserts one image into one cell at a time. A bulk upload tool lets you drag and drop dozens of images in one batch and embeds each into its own cell automatically.
What is the difference between a cell image and an attachment?
A cell image is visible right in the grid, so you can see it while scanning rows. An attachment hangs off the row and must be opened from the attachments panel to view.