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: Pasting a Comment into Your Worksheet.

Pasting a Comment into Your Worksheet

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 1, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Excel allows you to add comments to individual cells in a worksheet. I often use comments to included explanatory concepts, or to store alternative information to what is in the worksheet. There have often been times when I've wanted to copy something from a comment and place it into a cell on the worksheet. These steps are helpful in this regard:

  1. Right-click the cell whose comment you want to copy and paste into a cell. You'll see a Context menu for the cell.
  2. Choose Edit Comment from the Context menu. Excel displays the comment, with the insertion point in the comment balloon.
  3. Select the text in the comment that you want to paste into a cell. Make sure you do not select the author text at the beginning of the comment or the paragraph mark at the end.
  4. Use Ctrl+X to cut the text or Ctrl+C to copy the text to the Clipboard.
  5. Select the cell into which you want to paste the comment.
  6. If you want to paste the comment text as a formula, press the equal sign.
  7. Press Ctrl+V to paste the information to the cell.

If you performed step 6 to indicate you were creating a formula, press Enter to finish the paste. Excel pastes your comment text into the cell. You can now delete the comment from the source cell (if desired) by right-clicking the cell and choosing Delete Comment.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3385) 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: Pasting a Comment into Your Worksheet.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Using Multiple Print Settings

Do you have a worksheet from which you need to print only portions of the data available? There are two ways you can ...

Discover More

Finding Long Lines

Word is very dynamic in how it "flows" text from one line to another and one page to another. In most cases we are ...

Discover More

ExcelTips: Powerful Lookup Functions (Special Offer)

ExcelTips: Powerful Lookup Functions is a key resource in discovering how to use Excel's amazing lookup functions. ...

Discover More

Save Time and Supercharge Excel! Automate virtually any routine task and save yourself hours, days, maybe even weeks. Then, learn how to make Excel do things you thought were simply impossible! Mastering advanced Excel macros has never been easier. Check out Excel 2010 VBA and Macros today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Moving Comment Background Pictures to Cells

When formatting comments, you can use a graphic as a background for the comment box. If you later want to move this ...

Discover More

Comments Don't Appear when Cell is Pointed To

One way that you can view comments in a worksheet is to have them appear when you hover the mouse pointer over a cell. If ...

Discover More

Anchoring Comment Boxes in Desired Locations

Want your comment boxes to appear someplace other than the right side of a cell? You may be out of luck, and here's why.

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 8 - 5?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.