Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 16, 2019)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 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 key press 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, 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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2019-11-18 11:13:33
RKeevill
Or you can create a small macro that can do this like
cell.Value = cell.Comment.Text
2019-11-18 06:26:23
MalR
I am a long term user of comments in a spreadsheet. As you alluded. MS has changed the old Comment to now be a Note. Comments are there but they mean something different. So if you want to add a comment to a cell in the true manner that Comments were intended you now have to add a Note. Everything else remains the same. Just MS believing we need a change for no reason!
2019-11-16 05:50:52
Jim
Allen, in Excel 2007, you can just use paste special too. Right?
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