The following subroutine imports pictures and textboxes from a source Worksheet to a target Worksheet. The target worksheet is in the Active workbook, but not necessarily the ActiveSheet. The source Worksheet is in another (open) Workbook. The Shapes are copied successfully, but changing their position has no effect. The target Worksheet is protected, but unprotecting it has no effect.

Sub importShapes(target As Worksheet, source As Worksheet)
    Dim sourceShape As Shape
    For Each sourceShape In source.Shapes
        If sourceShape.Type = msoPicture Or sourceShape.Type = msoTextBox Then
            sourceShape.Copy
            target.Paste
           
            Dim targetShape As Shape
            Set targetShape = target.Shapes(target.Shapes.Count) ' the shape just added
            
            targetShape.top = sourceShape.top
            targetShape.left = sourceShape.left
        End If
    Next
End Sub