Adding a table over an image?

[osalite]

I basically want to be able to copy/paste an Excel table on to a picture I intend to use for my desktop background. I tried this and straight from Excel it has a white background on the cells, not transparent as I would require. I looked at various options in Excel and it seems this is not possible.

I don't mind creating the table from scratch once in Paint.net if I can modify it periodically.

I looked around and I couldn't see an obvious option to add a table... can anyone think of a way I could do this?

All I'm trying to do is stick a list of phone extensions in text on my desktop background so I don't have a tatty bit of paper sitting around and I don't have to open a file when I want an extension!

Any ideas appreciated! (Including alternatives to Paint.net if something else can accomplish what I am trying to do easier (and is free!))

[Sarkut]

Put the text on its own transparent layer and save the .pdn file

as well as a flattened file to use on your desktop.

You can go back and erase and replace the text in the .pdn file whenever you like.

[osalite]

Put the text on its own transparent layer and save the .pdn file

as well as a flattened file to use on your desktop.

You can go back and erase and replace the text in the .pdn file whenever you like.

I create a new layer (transparent by default) but when I paste over from Excel it's still white. Are you suggesting to forget Excel and the table idea entirely and just manually type the text in?

Also, in the past, on totally unrelated projects I've not discovered how I can edit text I've already written if I stop using the text tool and say return to that layer later?

[Sarkut]

Manually type it in, yes.

The text will have to be edited as image later if a change is needed.

Erase what becomes unwanted, add a new layer, then add the replacement text.

===============================================

An alternative:

http://lifehacker.com/213280/geek-to-live--incorporate-text-files-onto-your-desktop

Or:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897557.aspx

Edited June 24, 2010 by Sarkut

[Ego Eram Reputo]

You could try deleting the white background. Magic Wand + Shift selects all the pixels of the clicked-on color, press delete.

Alternatively there are a host of plugins that convert a given color to alpha (alpha = PDN-speak for transparency). AlphaSpace is one that works well.

[Sarkut]

If your Excel table is black text on white background,

import the table on its own new layer,

then set that layer's blend mode to Multiply.

Layer > Layer Properties... F4

[pdnnoob]

Are you trying to directly copy the table? (select table, then copy) or are you pressing the "print screen" button on your keyboard? The second one would be the correct way to do it because the table itself isn't text that you can paste in pdn.