Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 26, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Francois has a bunch of comments in a worksheet, and each comment contains a picture as a background. He would like to remove those background pictures from the comments and place them, instead, as graphics in the cells just to the right of where the comments are located.
The only way to do this is with the aid of a macro. The reason is that you cannot manually select and copy any graphic that has been stored in the background of a comment. You can, in a macro, approximate "grabbing" the image:
Sub CommentPictures()
Dim cmt As Comment
Dim rCell As Range
Dim bVisible As Boolean
For Each cmt In ActiveSheet.Comments
With cmt
bVisible = .Visible
.Visible = True
Set rCell = .Parent.Offset(0, 1)
.Shape.CopyPicture _
Appearance:=xlScreen, Format:=xlPicture
rCell.PasteSpecial
Selection.ShapeRange.LockAspectRatio = msoFalse
Selection.Width = rCell.Width
Selection.Height = rCell.Height
.Visible = bVisible
.Shape.Fill.OneColorGradient msoGradientFromCenter, 1, 1
End With
Next cmt
End Sub
The macro steps through each comment in the active worksheet. The entire comment (including the background) is copied as a graphic to the Clipboard, then it is pasted into the desired cell. The background of the comment is then set to a different fill instead of the graphic.
You should note that this approach provides only an approximation of grabbing the background picture. It also, in copying the entire comment as a graphic, copies any text that is contained in the comment.
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (11164) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.
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