[Solved] Telerik Document Processing: Keeping Floating Images Associated with Rows in Excel

[Akansh]

 

Hello Telerik Team,

I'm working on an Excel export feature in a .NET application using Telerik Document Processing, and I need guidance on handling product images in an exported Excel workbook.

Environment

• Telerik Document Processing version: 2024.1.124

Output format: .xlsx

• Target application: Microsoft Excel

Images are retrieved as byte arrays from a private Azure Blob Storage container and embedded in the workbook using Telerik's FloatingImage API.

Problem Statement

The exported Excel workbook opens successfully, and all product images display correctly.

However, when a user deletes an entire product row by selecting the row header and choosing Delete, the image-to-product association is not preserved reliably. The remaining product rows move up, but the deleted product's image can reappear or become visible in the wrong position when the image is selected and Excel's Place in Cell command is used.

Sorting and filtering have appeared to work in our initial tests, but we need reliable behavior across normal Excel operations, including sorting, filtering, deleting rows, copying rows, and saving and reopening the workbook.

Our current implementation uses Telerik's FloatingImage API, which appears to store images as separate floating drawing objects rather than as values associated with their corresponding product cells.

Questions

1. Does Telerik Document Processing version 2024.1.124 provide a supported API to configure floating images to move and resize with cells, or otherwise maintain their association with the corresponding product row when rows are deleted or sorted?

2. Is it possible to configure image anchor behavior, such as the Open XML editAs setting, through a supported Telerik API rather than modifying the exported XML manually?

3. Does Telerik Document Processing support native Excel in-cell images equivalent to Excel's Place in Cell feature? If not in version 2024.1.124, is this supported in a newer version or planned for a future release?

4. If native in-cell images are not supported, what is the recommended Telerik-supported approach for ensuring embedded images remain associated with their corresponding product rows during sorting and row deletion?

Constraints

• Product images must remain embedded in the exported Excel workbook.
• Images are stored in a private Azure Blob Storage container.
• Public image URLs and SAS URLs for Excel's IMAGE() formula are not an option.
• VBA and macros cannot be used.
• Introducing additional NuGet packages is not preferred.
• The output must remain a valid, editable .xlsx workbook that opens normally in Excel.
• We want to avoid unsupported XML modifications that could corrupt the workbook.

Could you please clarify whether this behavior can be achieved with the current version, whether upgrading Telerik would help, and which supported API or approach you recommend?

Thank you for your help.

[Yoan]

Hello Akansh,

Thank you for reaching out, and also for the detailed description, questions, constraints, and testing observations you have provided. I truly appreciate the time and effort you invested in preparing such a comprehensive report, as it gives us valuable context for understanding the scenario.

Correct me if I am wrong, but based on my understanding, your scenario is the following:

• You generate an XLSX document using our SpreadProcessing library.
• The document is exported successfully and opens correctly in Microsoft Excel.
• The images are inserted through the SpreadProcessing API as floating images and are displayed correctly in the exported workbook.
• After opening the file in Excel, you manually use Excel's Place in Cell option on those images so they become associated with their respective cells.
• Only after performing that step do you observe unexpected behavior when carrying out operations such as sorting, filtering, deleting rows, copying rows, saving and reopening the workbook, and similar actions.
• More specifically, the images appear to lose their expected association with the corresponding data rows, resulting in images appearing in unexpected positions after certain operations.

If my understanding is incorrect, please let me know.

With the current context available to me, I would like to gather a bit more information before providing definitive answers to all of your questions, as I want to avoid unintentionally misleading you regarding the supported functionality and the behavior you are observing.

One thing I can confirm is that the image anchor behavior corresponding to the Open XML editAs setting is currently not exposed through a public SpreadProcessing API. As a result, configuring image anchoring modes (for example, the Excel equivalents of "Move and size with cells", "Move but don't size with cells", or "Don't move or size with cells") is not currently supported programmatically.

At present, floating images are exported using a setting that corresponds to Excel's "Move but don't size with cells" behavior, and this behavior cannot currently be changed through the API.

With that in mind, I have taken the liberty of logging a feature request on your behalf regarding support for these image positioning options and the corresponding API configuration: SpreadProcessing: Add support for the "Move and size with cells" image property.

If this functionality is important for your project, I would encourage you to subscribe to the feature request so that you can track its progress and receive notifications about any future updates.

As a sign of appreciation for bringing this requirement to our attention, I have also updated your Telerik Points.

That said, there is an additional detail that makes me think further investigation is necessary.

Although the library currently exports images using the equivalent of "Move but don't size with cells", the images should still behave correctly during standard row and column operations in Excel. Based on your description, that does not appear to be happening in your case, which suggests there may be additional factors involved.

For that reason, could you please provide:

• A simplified runnable sample project that reproduces the behavior.
• The XLSX document(s) used during testing.
• Any specific step-by-step instructions required to reproduce the issue consistently.

NOTE: Please note that this is a public Q&A forum thread, and any attached files or resources will be publicly visible. If you have any concerns, please ensure that any sensitive or confidential information is removed before sharing.

Having access to the sample project and documents would allow me to reproduce the scenario locally, investigate the behavior in greater detail, identify the underlying cause, and provide you with more concrete feedback.

Additionally, could you please confirm whether the issue is still reproducible when using a more recent version of the library, preferably the latest 2026 release?

Thank you in advance for your assistance. I look forward to your reply and to investigating this further.

Regards,
Yoan
Progress Telerik