Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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: Finding and Replacing Text in Comments.

Finding and Replacing Text in Comments

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 8, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013


Gerry has a workbook containing 22 worksheets. Each worksheet has about 20 comments. Some of the comments make reference to a company division. He would like to do a mass search and replace of the comments to find each reference (for example, "ABC Division") and replace it with something else (for example, "XYZ subsidiary").

There is no way to do this without using a macro. The regular Find and Replace capabilities in Excel don't allow you to find text within comments, but you can use macro commands. The following is a simple macro to do the replacing:

Sub ReplaceComments()
    Dim cmt As Comment
    Dim wks As Worksheet
    Dim sFind As String
    Dim sReplace As String
    Dim sCmt As String

    sFind = "ABC Division"
    sReplace = "XYZ subidiary"

    For Each wks In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets
        For Each cmt In wks.Comments
            sCmt = cmt.Text
            If InStr(sCmt, sFind) <> 0 Then
                sCmt = Application.WorksheetFunction. _
                  Substitute(sCmt, sFind, sReplace)
                cmt.Text Text:=sCmt
            End If
        Next
    Next
    Set wks = Nothing
    Set cmt = Nothing
End Sub

The key lines here are those that set the sFind and sReplace variables. You should set those to reflect what you are searching for and what you want it replaced with, respectively. The macro steps through each comment in each worksheet of the current workbook and makes the changes anywhere they are located.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (11149) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Finding and Replacing Text in Comments.

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. ...

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