Annotate a Report with Images and Drawings in Gnumeric

An image or arrow floats above the worksheet grid. It can help explain a report, but it can also cover a value without deleting it. Keep the actual figures and explanatory text in cells, then use a small graphic and an arrow as supporting decoration.

Scope: upstream Gnumeric 1.12 manual and 1.12.62 GTK desktop source, English controls, reviewed 21 October 2026. Native insertion, object layout, export and reopening have not been tested. The practice PNG below is an original graphic, not a Gnumeric screenshot, chart output or company logo. Existing 1.12.57 screenshots elsewhere do not verify this exercise.

Prepare the report and its checks

On a new sheet named Report, enter:

Cell	Entry
A1	Practice supply report
A3:B3	Item / Amount
A4 / B4	Paper / 120
A5 / B5	Labels / 80
A6 / B6	Folders / 50
A8 / B8	Total / =SUM(B4:B6)
D8	Total includes all three items.
A11	Synthetic practice data; illustration is decorative.

B8 should be 250. In A13 enter Numeric input count, and in B13 enter =COUNT(B4:B6); expect 3. Keep A13:B13 outside any eventual report print area. Widen A, B and D enough to read the cell contents before placing objects. Reserve D2:H6 for the image and C7:D8 for a callout arrow, adjusting the empty space rather than covering the table.

Download the original practice PNG to a local practice folder. It is 320 × 160 pixels, with a blue document symbol and three orange bars on a pale background. Those bars are decorative, not a visualization of 120, 80 and 50. The original SVG source is supplied for reproducibility only; this exercise imports the PNG and makes no SVG-import claim.

Save the worksheet as a .gnumeric checkpoint before adding graphics.

Insert and position the image

1. Choose Insert → Image, select the downloaded PNG and use Open.
2. When the pointer becomes a thin placement crosshair, drag a rectangle in the empty D2:H6 region. The corners you drag define the initial placement and size.
3. Select the inserted image. Its surrounding handles indicate object selection, rather than a selected worksheet cell range.
4. Drag the object body to move it. Drag a corner handle to resize it. Keep the approximate 2:1 width-to-height proportion so the original drawing is not stretched; this instruction does not assume an automatic aspect-ratio lock.
5. Inspect the table and B8. All three input amounts, the 250 total and the text explanation must remain visible.

The image manual documents importing a file and embedding it in the workbook. Supported formats depend on the installed image library. If this PNG is not offered or cannot be opened, verify the downloaded file and report the installed-build limitation; renaming an extension does not convert an image.

Add an arrow without replacing the explanation

Show View → Toolbars → Object Toolbar if necessary. Hover over the drawing buttons to find Arrow, then draw a short arrow in the empty space next to the total, with its tip aimed at B8. Inspect the arrowhead after placement; if it points away from the total, adjust its endpoint handles or remove and redraw it. Do not assume the pointer’s initial direction guarantees the intended result.

Right-click the arrow object and choose Properties. Use its line color and width settings to make a modest, legible callout, then confirm the dialog. A dark line is a sensible starting point; the actual rendered appearance is a native check, not a fixed pixel specification. Do not make color or the arrow the only explanation: D8 already states what the total means.

If a graphic covers the table, move it into the reserved space. Sending an object behind another graphical object is not the same as putting it behind the cell grid. Keep the image and arrow separate in this exercise rather than relying on stacking behavior.

The drawing manual documents arrows and their appearance settings. The graphical overview distinguishes placement, object selection, moving and resizing. Mouse-pointer shapes are useful mode cues, not evidence that a cell was changed.

Save this annotated version as practice-report-annotated.gnumeric before the change and deletion tests below. Keep the earlier pre-graphics checkpoint separate.

Check cells independently of appearance

Click B8 and inspect its formula in the formula entry area. It should still be =SUM(B4:B6). B13 should still show 3. If the image temporarily covered a number, moving it away must reveal the same cell value, not a blank.

Change B6 from 50 to 70. B8 should become 270, while B13 remains 3. The imported image’s orange bars must not be interpreted as updating with the cells: an image is not a linked chart. Restore B6 to 50 and confirm 250.

As an optional quick selection check, select B4:B6 and inspect the bottom-right running-calculation area. The manual describes a default Sum and a right-click menu for choosing other summaries. Choose Sum if needed and compare the expected 250. That status display is temporary selection feedback, not a saved report formula; B8 remains the explicit worksheet total. If the information area is hidden or configured differently, use B8/B13 rather than treating its absence as data loss.

Export the image, not the whole report

Right-click the imported PNG and choose Save As Image in the reviewed 1.12.62 source. The older manual calls this Save As. Use the installed object’s image-export command, not the workbook’s File → Save As.

Choose PNG and save a separate name, such as practice-badge-copy.png. Open that output in an image viewer and verify the blue document and three orange bars. It should contain the image object, not the worksheet table or the separate arrow. Do not assume that image export captures the entire annotated report, or require identical file bytes after re-encoding.

For a report output containing cells and annotations, use printing and PDF output and inspect the actual exported pages. That separate workflow has historical native evidence; it does not establish that these newly added objects print correctly. No new report PDF is supplied here.

Remove objects and verify the saved workbook

In a disposable copy, right-click the image object and choose Delete. Confirm that only the image disappears: the three inputs, B8 formula, D8 explanation and arrow remain. Delete the arrow through its own context menu and repeat the cell checks. Do not delete worksheet rows or clear cells to remove a floating object.

Return to the annotated checkpoint or reinsert the practice PNG and arrow. Save, close and reopen the native workbook, then inspect image presence, arrow placement, readable cells and both formulas. The manual describes embedded image storage, but this exact save/reopen behavior remains an acceptance test for your installation. Repeat the check separately after converting formats; CSV cannot preserve these floating objects.

Troubleshooting and evidence

• Dragging changes the image’s shape instead of its position: use the selected object’s body to move it and handles to resize it.
• A menu contains cell commands rather than object commands: dismiss it and right-click the intended graphic itself.
• Graphic looks distorted: restore an approximately 2:1 rectangle or reinsert the source PNG. More pixels on screen do not add detail to a 320 × 160 image.
• Export omits the arrow: image-object export and whole-report output are different operations.
• Correct total but unreadable report: arithmetic checks do not verify overlap, legibility or print clipping. Inspect the complete layout.

The original assets were generated locally from simple SVG shapes using an installed non-GUI renderer; their dimensions and pixels were checked. No stock image, copied manual screenshot or simulated application screenshot is used. The official 1.12.62 archive, src/sheet-object-image.c, sheet-object.c, wbc-gtk.c and wbc-gtk-actions.c, supports the image-export, object-menu and toolbar wording. The information-area manual supports the optional selection summary. None of these checks establishes an observed Gnumeric layout or output.