How to manage notes in Excel

The Notes Manager add-in makes managing Excel cell notes easier. Here you will learn how to add, copy, export, and modify notes quickly.

• How to use the Notes Manager tool
  • Start Notes Manager
  • Add a new note
  • Edit a note
  • Navigate among the notes
  • Delete notes
  • Insert author, date, or time to a note
  • Insert picture to a note
    • Add image to a cell note with Notes Manager
    • Add image to a note with the Insert Pictures tool
  • Change the shape of your note
  • Delete pictures from notes
  • Add cell text to the note
  • Replace note contents with cell text
  • Add note text to the cell
  • Replace cell contents with note text
  • Copy a note to another location
  • Refresh the notes list
  • Export notes
• Related links

How to use the Notes Manager tool

Start Notes Manager

Run the add-in by clicking on its icon in the Utilities group on the Ablebits Tools tab:

Add a new note

You can easily add a new note to the selected cell:

1. Select the cell in your table that you want to add a note to.
2. Type or copy/paste the necessary text in the special yellow field on the add-in pane:
   

That's it, the note is already there. You can make sure of this by placing the cursor to some other cell.

Edit a note

Select the cell with the note you want to edit or pick this cell note from the list on the add-in pane. You will immediately see the note contents at the top of the pane:

Make the necessary changes, and they will be saved automatically once you move to another cell.

Navigate among the notes

You can easily navigate among multiple notes in your table.

If you need to go to the cell with a particular note, just click on this note in the list on the tool's pane:

To navigate to the next or previous note in the sheet, just use the up and down arrows on your keyboard.

Delete notes

There are three ways to delete notes in Excel:

• Select the cell with the note you want to remove and press the Delete Note icon:
  
  Tip. You can also select the note in the list on the add-in pane and the needed cell will be highlighted automatically.
• Right-click the cell with it in the sheet and choose the Delete note option from the context menu.
• Or, select the cell of interest and press the Delete button on your keyboard to remove the note.

Insert author, date, or time to a note

To add author, date, or time to a note, just select a cell, click on the Insert icon on the add-in toolbar and pick the needed option from the list:

Then you can type your addition to the note text.

Insert picture to a note

Adding images into cell notes may be especially helpful for product lists. Instead of entering a product description, you can simply insert its image as a note.

Add image to a cell note with Notes Manager

1. To insert a picture note, select a cell and click on the Insert/Delete picture icon. Then pick the Insert Picture into Note option from the list:
   
2. You will see the Select Picture window where you can browse for the necessary image.

Add image to a note with the Insert Pictures tool

1. To insert a picture note, select a cell in your table, click the down arrow next to the Notes Manager icon in the Utilities group on the Ablebits Tools tab and select the Insert Picture option:
   
2. Browse for the necessary image in the Select Picture window.

Change the shape of your note

To reshape the note's outline, click on the note border to enable the Change Shape option under Notes Manager and select the desired shape from the list you will see next to it. This will change the note outline:

Delete pictures from notes

To remove picture from note, select the cell that contains image in the note, click on the Insert/Delete icon and pick the corresponding option from the list:

Add cell text to a note

If you need to complement a note with the text from the cell, benefit from the Add cell contents to note option:

1. Select the cell with the text you want to add to its note.
2. Click on the Add Contents icon and pick Add cell contents to note:
   

Replace note contents with cell text

1. To overwrite the note contents with the cell text, first, select the corresponding cell in your table.
2. Click on the Replace Contents icon and pick the Replace note contents with cell value option:
   

Add note text to the cell

If you need to complement a cell with the text from its note, for example, for printing, benefit from the Add Contents option:

1. Select the cell that contains the note text you want to add.
2. Click on the Add Contents icon and pick Add note contents to cell:
   

The text from the note will appear at the end of the cell contents.

Replace cell contents with note text

If your note becomes more important than the cell text, you can overwrite the cell contents with the note text:

1. Click on the cell with the contents you need to replace with its note text.
2. Click on the Note to Cell icon and pick Replace cell value with note contents:
   

Copy a note to another location

The add-in lets you copy a note to another cell or range:

1. Click on the note you want to copy in the list on the add-in pane or select the cell with it in your table.
2. Click the Copy Note icon on the add-in toolbar:
   
3. Using a small dialog window that appears, choose in the table or enter in the field a destination cell or range of cells where you want to have the selected note.

Click OK and the note will appear in the selected cells.

Refresh the notes list

If you move from one Excel sheet to another, click the Refresh icon to update the list of notes in the sheet that is opened right now:

Export notes

If you want to get a list of all notes in a separate workbook or a worksheet, take advantage of the Export button in the bottom right corner of the add-in pane:

Depending on the option you pick, the notes will be copied to a new workbook or a new worksheet. The new table will have 2 columns: Cell address and Note text:

Related links

• How to copy cell address
  
• Perform formula operations