What it does
Uses picker prompt to expedite applying a cell comment action to the selected cell(s) (i.e. add, delete, copy, paste, toggle visibility, etc.).  See the full list of options below in the Instructions section.

Note that starting in 2018, legacy cell comments are now referred to as “Notes.”  The functionality discussed on this page refers to these “notes” that were formerly called cell comments.

When to use it
When working with cell comments, and you want to add, delete, copy, paste, toggle, or list them all in once place, this is an easy way to quickly apply comment actions.

Why to use it
It’s easier and quicker than using the mouse, combining several clicks into one step, providing shortcuts to tougher-to-find menu options, and providing options that extend the native capabilities of Excel.

Default shortcut
Ctrl+w

Other Details

• Category: Data / Comments
• Difficulty: 2/5
• Usage/frequency: 3/5
• Automation factor: 3/5 (estimated 5 seconds saved each time used)
• Type: Shortcut
• Date added: 11/11/2017
• Tags: comments, picker

Related Macros
[I] Insert Comment
[D] Remove Comment
[T] Toggle Comment
[A] Auto-size Comment
[S] Resize Comment
[R] Reset Comment Position
[C] Copy Comment Contents
[P] Paste To Comment
[F] File Comments

Note: most of the related filter macros above will be covered in the instructions below.  The picker option code is displayed in the [brackets].

Other Articles
None

None

Prerequisites
Most options: select the cell(s) to interact with for cell comments.

Instructions
With cell(s) selected per the prerequisites above, run the Comment Picker macro.  It will present several helpful actions to run for working with cell comments.  For the action you run most often, you can set your default so you don’t have to enter it (just launch the picker and press Enter).  Note that the default is highlighted when the picker is launched, so to change the action code, there is no need to press the backspace first.  Further instructions for the individual action codes are described below.

• [I] This create and activate the cell comment for the selected cell (or top-left cell if multiple cells are selected).  If the cell already contains a comment, the comment is displayed and focused so it can be edited.
• [D] This will delete the cell comments from any selected cells.
• [T] This will toggle the visibility of the cell comments in the selected cell(s).  If more than one cell is selected, the visibility of the first cell containing a cell comment is used for the toggle mode.  For example, if the first cell comment found is hidden, cell comments for all selected cells would then be visible.
• [A] This will auto-size the cell comments in the selected cell(s) such that the comment size reduces or expands to fit the comment contents.
• [S] This will re-size the active cell’s comment size.  A prompt is displayed where you can choose to increase (positive number), decrease (negative number), or specify a fixed width and height of the comment size.  At the prompt, enter the width number, then an x, then the height number for the pixels to increase/decrease.  To specify a fixed amount (not just an increase/decrease), an an F to the entry.  For example, “100×50” would increase the width by 100 pixels and increase the height by 50 pixels and “100x50F” would set the comment size to 100 pixels wide by 50 pixels high.
• [SS] This works just like option [S] above but will apply to all cell comments on the active sheet.
• [R] This will reset the position of the cell comment for the active cell such that the comment is positioned just to the left of the active cell.
• [RS] This works just like option [R] above but will apply to all cell comments on the active sheet.
• [C] This will copy the comments in the selected cell(s) to the clipboard.  If multiple cells are selected, a line break is inserted between each of the copied cell comments.
• [P] This will paste the clipboard contents to each of the selected cell(s).  If one or more of the selected cells already contains a cell comment, a prompt is displayed to confirm whether to proceed with pasting or not.
• [F] This will add the top-left selected cell to a central comment tracking sheet called “File_Comments.”  If the File_Comments sheet does not yet exist, it is created.  The sheet, range, and a hyperlink are listed on the File_Comments sheet.  If this option is run while selecting one of the populated rows on the File_Comments sheet, a prompt is displayed asking whether or not to copy the comment to a cell comment at the listed cell sheet/range.  This helps you track all cell comments from one list.

Like most of the picker macros, you can set the default option to apply so you don’t even have to enter the letter/number – just the Enter key.  Just enter your preferred default letter(s), then click the default checkbox, and those letter(s) becomes the new default.