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 comments 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 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 note

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 notes

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 notes

There are three ways to delete comments in Excel:

• Select the cell with the comment you want to remove and press the Delete Note 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 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 comment 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 comment.

Add image to a cell note with Notes 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 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 comment's outline, click on the comment 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 comment outline:

Delete pictures from notes

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 a note

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 note 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 note 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 note 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 note 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 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 comment.

Click OK and the comment 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 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:

Related links

• How to copy cell address
  
• Perform formula operations