Counting Comments in a Worksheet

Sanjib would like to get a count of all the comments in a worksheet. Unfortunately, Excel doesn't include a function that allows you to access this information. You can, however, get the value manually by using this process:

1. Press F5. Excel displays the Go To dialog box.
2. Click Special. Excel displays the Go To Special dialog box. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. Make sure the Comments radio button is selected.
4. Click OK. Excel selects all the cells that contain comments.
5. Right-click the status bar and choose Count. The status bar now displays the number of selected cells—the number of comments in the worksheet.

If you want to get the number of comments and place it into a cell, then you need to use a macro to create a user-defined function.

Function CountComments(rCell As Range)
    Application.Volatile
    CountComments = rCell.Parent.Comments.Count
End Function

This function grabs the value of the Count property for the Comments collection. It is then returned by the function to the worksheet. To use it in your worksheet, enter a formula such as the following:

=CountComments(A1)

The cell address you use in the formula is unimportant; it should simply reference a cell on the worksheet for which you want the count.