Copying Comments when Filtering

Vinod frequently uses Excel's advanced filtering tools to copy filtered data from one location to another. In some instances he would like to copy not only the cell contents but also the cell comments of the cells that meet the filtering criteria. He's not looking for a way to filter based on comments, but only to copy comments along with the cell contents when using the advanced filtering capabilities of Excel.

(It should be noted that Microsoft changed the way comments work in Excel 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.)

As far as we can tell, there is no way to copy comments or notes using advanced filtering; only the cell contents are copied. However, it is possible to easily copy the comments or notes using a two-step process.

First, filter your data, but make sure you do the filtering in-place; don't specify that you want the information copied to a different location. You end up with a filtered list, showing only the cells that meet your criteria. Next, select the cells returned by the filtering. You should then make sure that Excel knows you only want the visible cells selected:

1. Press F5 to display the Go To dialog box.
2. Click Special to display the Go To Special dialog box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Go To Special dialog box.

3. Make sure the Visible Cells Only option is selected.
4. Click on OK.

With the visible cells selected (those hidden by the filtering are not selected), you are ready for the second step: Copy the cells to another location using normal editing techniques. The result is that the comments or notes are copied right along with the cell contents.

If you perform this task quite a bit and it even bugs you to do the two steps, you could automate the task. The following macro will apply a filter in-place, copy the visible cells to the Clipboard, and then paste them (and their comments or notes) into a new workbook:

Sub AdvancedFilter_AndCopyComments()
    With Range("Database")
        ' filter the data range
        .AdvancedFilter Action:=xlFilterInPlace, _
          CriteriaRange:=Range("Criteria"), Unique:=False
        ' copy visible cells only
        .SpecialCells(xlCellTypeVisible).Copy
    End With

    ' goto to another worksheet
    Sheets("Sheet1").Select
    ' and paste the copied data
    With Range("A1")
        .PasteSpecial xlPasteColumnWidths
        .PasteSpecial xlPasteAll
    End With

    Application.CutCopyMode = False
End Sub

The macro assumes you have two named ranges set up: one for the data to be filtered (Database) and the other for the filtering criteria (Criteria). Run the macro, and the filtered, commented or noted information ends up on Sheet1.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (10284) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Copying Comments when Filtering.