Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Printing Comments.

Printing Comments

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 25, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


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 11/15/12

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. Choose the Page Setup option from the File menu. Excel displays the Page Setup dialog box.
  2. Make sure the Sheet tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The Sheet tab of the Page Setup dialog box.

  4. Use the Comments drop-down list to specify how you want your comments printed.
  5. Click on OK to close the Page Setup dialog box.
  6. Print your worksheet as normal.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2846) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Printing Comments.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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