Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Pasting a Comment into Your Worksheet.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 16, 2026)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365
Excel allows you to add comments to individual cells in a worksheet. I often use comments to included explanatory concepts, or to store alternative information to what is in the worksheet. There have often been times when I've wanted to copy something from a comment and place it into a cell on the worksheet. These steps are helpful in this regard (Excel 2007, Excel 2010, and Excel 2013):
If you are using Excel 2016 or a later version, you will notice the Context menu displayed in steps 1 and 2, above, don't have the Edit Comment option listed. Follow these steps to copy and paste a comment from one cell to another:
If you performed step 6 (all versions of Excel) to indicate you were creating a formula, press Enter to finish the paste. Excel pastes your comment text into the cell. You can now delete the comment from the source cell (if desired) by right-clicking the cell and choosing Delete Comment.
Excel also provides a different way to "open" a comment so it can be edited—by pressing Shift+F2. This could be used to replace steps 1 and 2, above, by simply selecting the cell whose comment you want to copy and then pressing Shift+F2. The rest of the steps (3 through 7) could then be followed as noted. If you are using Excel 2016 or a later version, pressing Shift+F2 will only "open" notes; the keypress won't open a comment.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (10943) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Pasting a Comment into Your Worksheet.
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2026-05-17 11:55:09
J. Woolley
My Excel Toolbox includes the following function to return the text of a comment associated with a Target cell:
=CommentText(Target, [SkipAuthor])
This works with either a legacy unthreaded comment (Note) or a threaded Comment. If SkipAuthor is FALSE (default), the comment's author will be included in the returned text (if available); otherwise, the comment's author will not be included (if possible). If Target is a multi-cell range, its top-left cell applies. If Target's cell does not have a comment, #VALUE! (Error 2015) will be returned.
My Excel Toolbox also includes the following dynamic array function:
=ListComments([AllSheets], [Threaded], [SkipHeader])
This function returns one row for each comment in either the current sheet or all sheets in the workbook with the following columns: Worksheet (if AllSheets is TRUE), Cell, Author, Comment (text). It works with threaded or unthreaded comments.
My Excel Toolbox also includes the following macros for legacy unthreaded comments (Notes):
CommentAuthors -- Remove author's name
FormatComments -- Format text, shape, color, and shadow
MoveComments -- Reposition near host cell
ResizeComments -- Resize to fit text
UpdateComments -- Run each of the macros above
CopyToComments -- Copy source cell values to target cell comments
CommentDisplayMode -- Cycle display mode (none, indicator, comment)
CommentHyperlink -- Attach a hyperlink to the active cell's comment
PasteImageInComment -- Paste background image from clipboard or file
See https://sites.google.com/view/MyExcelToolbox/
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here:
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