How to manage comments in Excel

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

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

How to use the Comments Manager tool

Start Comments Manager

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

Add a new comment

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

1. Select the cell in your table that needs to be commented.
2. Type or copy/paste the necessary text in the special yellow field on the add-in pane:
   

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

Edit a comment

Select the cell with the comment you want to edit or pick this cell note from the list on the add-in pane. You will immediately see the comment 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 comments

You can easily navigate among multiple comments in your table.

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

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

Delete comments

There are three ways to delete comments in Excel:

• Select the cell with the comment you want to remove and press the Delete Comment icon:
  
  Tip. You can also select the comment 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 comment option from the context menu.
• Or, select the cell of interest and press the Delete button on your keyboard to remove the comment.

Insert author, date, or time to comment

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 comment text.

Insert picture to a comment

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 comment:

Add image to a cell note with Comments Manager

1. To insert a picture comment, select a cell and click on the Insert/Delete picture icon. Then pick the Insert picture into comment option from the list:
   
2. You will see the Select Picture window where you can browse for the necessary image.
Tip. You can always insert picture from clipboard into a comment. Just copy the image of interest into the clipboard, select the necessary cell, and pick the second option from the Insert/Delete drop-down list. Then press Ctrl+V on your keyboard and see the copied image in the cell's note.

Add image to a comment with the Insert Pictures tool

1. To insert a picture comment, select a cell in your table, click the down arrow next to the Comments 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 comment

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

Delete pictures from comments

To remove picture from comment, 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 the comment

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

Replace comment contents with cell text

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

Add comment text to the cell

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

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

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

Replace cell contents with comment text

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

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

Copy a comment to another location

The add-in lets you copy a comment 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 Comment 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 comment.

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

Export comments

If you want to get a list of all comments 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 comments will be copied to a new workbook or a new worksheet. The new table will have 2 columns: Cell address and Comment text: