How to actually download the image from the image(url) formula - google-sheets

Question

I am using the =IMAGE(URL) formula in google sheets.
The images are loaded from the url and then displayed in the cells.
I want to stop using the url to fetch images, and instead "download" them to display them.
So if the url changes it remains active.
How can I do that ? :)
Thanks!

Answer 1

If there are just a couple of images, copy the URL from each image() formula and use Insert > Image > Image in cell > By URL to replace the formula with the image.
To automate that, you will need a script. Try something like this:
function test() {
const sheetRegex = /^(Sheet1|Sheet2|Sheet3)$/i;
let numRangesModified = 0;
let totalNumReplaced = 0;
const ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActive();
let sheets;
try {
ss.toast(`Replacing image formulas with in-cell images...`, 'Please wait', 30);
const sheets = ss.getSheets()
.filter(sheet => sheet.getName().match(sheetRegex));
if (!sheets.length) {
ss.toast(`Cannot find any sheets that match ${sheetRegex.toString()}.`);
return;
}
const ranges = sheets.map(sheet => sheet.getDataRange());
ranges.forEach(range => {
const numReplaced = replaceImageFormulasWithImages_(range);
if (numReplaced) {
numRangesModified += 1;
totalNumReplaced += numReplaced;
}
});
ss.toast(`Replaced ${totalNumReplaced} image formula(s) with in-cell images in ${numRangesModified} range(s).`, 'Done', 10);
} catch (error) {
ss.toast(`Replaced ${totalNumReplaced} image formula(s) in ${numRangesModified} range(s). ${error.message}`, 'Error', 30);
}
}
/**
* Replaces all image() formulas in a range with in-cell images.
*
* Supports formulas like image(E2) where E2 contains a URL, and
* formulas like image("https://www.example.com/pict/image01.png").
* The replacement is done cell by cell to work around an issue
* in the SpreadsheetApp API.
*
* #param {SpreadsheetApp.Range} range The range where to replace image() formulas with in-cell images.
* #return {Number} The number of image() formulas replaced with in-cell images.
*/
function replaceImageFormulasWithImages_(range) {
// version 1.1, written by --Hyde, 9 December 2022
// - add cellA1
// version 1.0, written by --Hyde, 8 December 2022
// - see https://stackoverflow.com/a/74736461/13045193
const sheet = range.getSheet();
let numReplaced = 0;
range.getFormulas().forEach((row, rowIndex) =>
row.forEach((formula, columnIndex) => {
if (formula.match(/^(=image)/i)) {
let url;
let match = formula.match(/^=image\("(http[^"]+)"/i);
if (match) {
url = match[1];
} else {
match = formula.match(/^=image\(([A-Z]{1,3}\d{1,6})\)/i);
if (match) {
let cellA1 = match[1];
try {
url = sheet.getRange(cellA1).getDisplayValue();
} catch (error) {
;
}
}
}
if (url) {
range.offset(rowIndex, columnIndex, 1, 1).setValue(
SpreadsheetApp
.newCellImage()
.setSourceUrl(url)
.build()
);
numReplaced += 1;
}
}
})
);
return numReplaced;
}
Replace /^(Sheet1|Sheet2|Sheet3)$/i with a regular expression that matches the sheet names where you want to replace image() formulas with in-cell images. To replace on all sheets, use /./i.