Microsoft Excel 2007

Working with Comments

Comments are pop-up notes that you can insert into your worksheet. Comments can be used for many things, including adding notes for other users, adding reminders for yourself, and creating cross-references to other reports. After adding a comment to your worksheet, you can decide how and where you would like to display that comment, when to print it, and whether to delete comments.

Adding Comments
Editing Comments
Displaying/Hiding Comments
Moving Comments
Deleting Comments
Printing Comments

Adding Comments

Adding a comment to a cell allows you append additional information to that cell in a pop-up message. The comment, along with the username of the person who inserted the comment, appears when you point to the cell.

Adding Comments: Ribbon Option

Select the cell to which the comment will be added
From the Ribbon, select the Review command tab
In the Comments group, click NEW COMMENT
The Comment box appears, displaying your username.
Type your comment
When finished, click another cell
A red triangle appears in the upper right-hand corner of the cell indicating a comment has been attached. When you place your mouse over the cell, the comment appears.

Cell with comment Text of comment revealed

Adding Comments: Mouse Option

Right click the cell to which you want to add a comment » select Insert Comment
The Comment box appears, displaying your username.
Type your comment
When finished, click another cell
A red triangle appears in the upper right-hand corner of the cell indicating a comment has been attached. When you place your mouse over the cell, the comment appears.

Editing Comments

Editing a comment allows you to change or add to the information you have placed within a cell as a comment.

Editing Comments: Ribbon Option

Select the cell that contains the comment to be edited
From the Ribbon, select the Review command tab
In the Comments group, click EDIT COMMENT
The Comment box appears, containing the text of the comment.
Make the appropriate changes to the comment
When finished, click another cell

Editing Comments: Mouse Option

Right click the cell which contains the comment » select Edit Comment
The Comment box appears, containing the text of the comment.
Make the appropriate changes to the comment
When finished, click another cell

Displaying/Hiding Comments

Usually, comments appear only when your mouse is hovering over the cell containing the comment. However, you can choose to have comments remain on the screen or disappear from the screen when your pointer is not over the cell.

Displaying/Hiding Comments: Single Cell

To display a comment, right click the cell which contains the comment » select Show/Hide Comments
That comment is displayed.
To hide a comment which has been displayed, right click the cell which contains the comment » select Hide Comment
That comment is hidden until you place your mouse over the cell.

Displaying/Hiding Comments: Ribbon Option

Select the cell which contains the comment
From the Ribbon, select the Review command tab
In the Comments group, click SHOW/HIDE COMMENT
NOTE: When you click to show, the comment appears next to the selected cell. When you click to hide, the comment disappears.

Displaying/Hiding Comments: All Cells

From the Ribbon, select the Review command tab
In the Comments group, click SHOW ALL COMMENTS
NOTE: This button acts as a toggle switch. Clicking the button once will display your comments: clicking it again will hide all comments.

Moving Comments

If your comments are overlapping text that you would like to read, you can move the comment to a more convenient place. The comment will still remain attached to the cell it was originally created for, but you will be able to move it to a more suitable location.

Display the comment you would like to move
Move your mouse over the border of the comment
The pointer becomes a four-headed arrow.
Click and hold the border of the comment
Drag the comment to the desired position
An arrow appears, connecting the comment to the cell.
Release the mouse button

Deleting Comments

Deleting comments allow you to either remove the comment you have placed within an individual cell, or to remove all of the comments you have placed within a document.

Removing Comments from a Single Cell: Mouse Option

Right click the cell which contains the comment » select Delete Comment

Removing Comments from a Single Cell: Ribbon Option

Select the cell which contains the comment to be deleted
From the Ribbon, select the Review command tab
In the Comments group, click DELETE COMMENT

Removing Comments from All Cells

Open the sheet with the comments to be deleted
From the Ribbon, select the Home command tab
In the Editing group, click FIND & SELECT» select Comments
All comments on the active sheet will be selected.
From the Editing group, click CLEAR» select Clear Comments
All comments are cleared.

Printing Comments

Comments must be displayed before printing. For more information, refer to Displaying Comments.

Open the worksheet that contains the comments you want to print
From the Ribbon, select the Page Layout command tab
In the Page Setup group, click PAGE SETUP
The Page Setup dialog box appears.
Select the Sheet tab
In the Print section, from the Comments pull-down list, select the desired option:

At end of sheet
Prints all comments separately, as a group at the end of the printed document. These comments will display a cell reference to inform you of which cell they are attached to.

As displayed on sheet
Prints all displayed comments as they appear in your document.
NOTE: These comments may extend past the page when printed. However, it is possible to avoid this by using the Page Layout view and making sure to move the comment boxes within the printable area of the page.

Click PRINT...
The Print dialog box appears.
Make the appropriate selections
NOTE: For more information on printing, refer to Printing Basics.
Click OK