Where is the Insert Tab in Excel 2011?

Switching to the Mac platform finds you with certain disappointments challenges. One of these is finding no Insert Tab on the Excel 2011 Ribbon.

Windows versions of Excel (2007 and 2010) both have the Insert Tab on the Ribbon. So when you start using the new Mac version of Excel 2011, you can quickly become confused at the whereabouts of some familiar controls.

Excel 2011 has a Charts tab on the Ribbon that doesn’t exist in the Windows versions (2007, 2010). This is where the Charts and Sparklines Groups on the Insert tab are located.

Excel 2011 reminds me of a hybird version because while there’s a Ribbon, they left the old Menu bar at the top. This is reminiscent of Excel 2003 (Windows) with familiar menus for File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Tools, Data, Window, and Help.

Generally speaking, the Insert menu in Excel 2011 holds most of the items in the Illustrations, Links, Text, and Symbols groups from the Excel 2010 Insert tab.

A Table to Help

I put together a table of each item on the Excel 2010 Insert tab, and it’s location in Excel 2011.

In the table below the two left columns show the Group and Item on the Excel 2010 Insert tab. The column on the right either shows the Ribbon or Menu locations.

    • Data > Analysis > PivotTable is an item location on the Ribbon.
    • Insert – Photo – Picture from File… is an item location in the old Menu system.

You’ll also notice a few items that don’t exist (to my knowledge).

Excel Insert Tab Item Location Excel 2011

A quick alternative to some of these items in Excel 2011 is the Media Browser icon on the Toolbar, which gives you access to Photos, Audio, Movies, Clip Art, Symbols, and Shapes to insert into the worksheet.

3 thoughts on “Where is the Insert Tab in Excel 2011?”

  1. Thanks for your article. Excel 2011 for Mac is a total disappointment and pain. It is as if there are two different Microsoft companies, one for Mac and one for PC. I completely ditched Excel 2011. Life’s too short. I went back to Excel 2007 for PC using Parallels on Mac. I plan to upgrade to Excel 2010 for PC using Parallels. (Same goes for Outlook 2011 which I ditched completely. I now use Gmail only.)

  2. Thanks for the help I don’t have Mac but I am trying to put together a comprehensive collection of tutorials and descriptive explanations on everything Excel.

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