Do you ever wish you could add cool effects to images in your Office document pictures, but don’t have access to a graphics editor? Today we take a look at the Artistic Effects featire which is a new feature in Office 2010.

Note: We will show you examples in Excel, but the Artistic Effect are available in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

To insert a picture into your Office document, click the Picture button on the Insert tab.

Once you import your picture, the Picture Tools format ribbon should be active. If not, click on the image.

In the Adjust group, click on Artistic Effects. You will see a selection of effects previews images in the dropdown list.

Hover your cursor over the effects to use Live Preview to see what your picture will look like if that effect is applied.

When you find an effect you like, just click to apply it to the image.

There are also some additional Artistic Effect Options.

Each effect will have a it’s own set of available options that can be adjusted by moving the sliders left or right.

If you find you want to undo an effect after it has been applied, simply select the None option from the previews under Artistic Effects.

Conclusion

Artistic Effects provides a really easy way to add professional looking effects to images in Office 2010 without the need to access graphics editing software.

Check out some of our other Office 2010 articles like how to use advanced font ligatures, add video from the web to PowerPoint 2010, and preview before you paste in Office 2010.