Printing Formatted Comments

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 5, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365

Hannah already knows how to print comments in Excel but she can't find any information about printing formatted comments. She has formatted the comments to be bold, to have colors, etc., but those formats don't show when printing.

Note that Microsoft changed the way comments work in Excel in Office 365. Comments are now threaded allowing users to have discussions with each other regarding the data. Notes work like comments in earlier versions of Excel.

Excel provides a way to make sure that the notes print out in a formatted manner, but that way isn't immediately obvious. Follow these steps:

  1. Display the Page Layout tab of the ribbon.
  2. Click the small icon at the lower-right corner of the Page Setup group. Excel displays the Page Setup dialog box.
  3. Make sure the Sheet tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

    4. Figure 1. The Sheet tab of the Page Setup dialog box.

  4. Using the Comments and Notes drop-down list, choose As Displayed On Sheet (notes only).
  5. Click OK.
  6. Print as you normally would.

It should be noted that Excel only prints those notes that are visible on the sheet when the printing occurs. The best thing to do is to make sure that you make your notes visible before actually printing.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (1029) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Don't Update Links to Other Programs

If you have links in your workbook to data in other workbooks, you may want to control whether Excel updates those links ...

Discover More

Concatenating Values from a Variable Number of Cells

Excel makes it easy to concatenate (or combine) different values into a single cell. If you need to combine a different ...

Discover More

Detecting Hidden Rows

Excel allows you to easily hide rows in a worksheet, so their contents are not visible. Figuring out how to detect where ...

Discover More

Program Successfully in Excel! This guide will provide you with all the information you need to automate any task in Excel and save time and effort. Learn how to extend Excel's functionality with VBA to create solutions not possible with the standard features. Includes latest information for Excel 2024 and Microsoft 365. Check out Mastering Excel VBA Programming today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Changing the Comment Indicator Color

Add a comment to a worksheet, and you'll notice that Excel places a small, red triangle at the upper-right corner of the ...

Discover More

Filtering for Comments (Notes)

Excel makes it easy to filter a data table based on various values in that table. It isn't so easy to filter according to ...

Discover More

Changing the Comment Font

When you add a comment to a worksheet, Excel uses a default font and size for the text. If you want to make changes to ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is eight more than 7?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2026 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.