Image marks, number badges, and the mark-up tools (circles, boxes, arrows, notes) draw real Excel shapes, which needs the Shapes API: available in Microsoft 365, Excel 2021 and later, and Excel on the web.
If you see the message #
- Excel 2019 and older perpetual releases are below the supported version floor. Use Microsoft 365, Office 2021 or later, or Excel on the web. Seeing some text controls work does not make an older host supported.
- On Microsoft 365, the message usually means Office has not updated in a long time: File > Account > Update Options > Update Now, then restart Excel.
A quick alternative #
The emoji marks (✅ ❌ ⚠️ 🚩 and friends) render in full color in every supported Excel and behave like normal cell text: they sort, filter, and even attach to values. If drawing is unavailable on an otherwise supported host, they are a useful text-based alternative.