Printing Comments

Not only are comments handy when you are displaying your worksheet, but you can also print them out for a permanent record. Excel provides two ways to print comments. The first is as they are displayed on your worksheet. This method results in a graphic printout that shows comments over the top of your worksheet, as they appear when displayed on the monitor. Only those comments currently displayed on the screen are printed, however. If a comment is hidden, it is not printed at all.

The second method is to print the comments separately, at the end of the worksheet. The reference for a cell to which a comment is attached is printed first, followed by the comment itself. Thus, you might see the following on the printout:

   Cell: C4
Comment: Allen L. Wyatt:
         Prices last updated 11/15/08

Each comment is printed in this format, until all the comments are printed. This printing choice is a great way to provide a complete list of all the comments in a worksheet.

To control how comments are printed, follow these steps:

1. Display the Page Setup dialog box. (If using a version of Excel prior to Excel 2007, click File | Page Setup. If using Excel 2007, display the Page Layout tab of the ribbon and then click the small icon at the lower-right of the Page Setup group.)
2. Make sure the Sheet tab is selected. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. Use the Comments drop-down list to specify how you want your comments printed.
4. Click on OK to close the Page Setup dialog box.
5. Print your worksheet as normal.