Comment Views

This lesson includes a spreadsheet with an exercise and a result.

Comment Views Exercise

Excel offers the ability to put in comments on the spreadsheet by

• clicking on the cell where you want the comment
• going to the Edit menu and selecting Add Comment
• then filling in the comment

You get a result like this, with a red triangle in the upper corner to signify that it is a comment. 

What if you do not want to see the red triangle for the comment but instead create a hidden comment?  There are a couple ways.

One is to put it into the comment formula:

• =SUM(B2:B5)+N("Above numbers are preliminary")

The syntax is:

• +N()
• the comment added inside the parenthesis with double quotations

Note in this case the red triangle does not appear.  The comment will appear in the formula bar. 

The other way to change comment displays would affect all comments on your spreadsheet.  Go to the Tool menu, then select Options.  In the dialog box, you have 3 options. 

• None.  In this case, no triangle shows.  You can then either put the comment in the formula or in the comment box.  The drawback of this method is that you have to remember where you put comments and to then see the comment, you would have to go to the menu bar and select Edit Comment.  Another thing you could consider is making the comments visible for you, but hiding them when you send the spreadsheet to someone else. 
• Comment indicator only.  This is the default setting.  This means you have a marked comment, with just the red triangle appearing. The comment will then pop up when you put the cursor over the cell.
• Comment and indicator.  Now the comment and indicator appear no matter where you are in the spreadsheet.  There might be times where you send a spreadsheet to someone where you want comments to appear all the time. 

One final "comment" (sorry, could not resist slipping that in).  You can change the size of the comment box if your comment is shorter than the default size of the box.  Go to the Insert menu, select Edit Comment (or get to Edit Comment by right clicking the cell), and then drag the bottom right corner of the comment box when it appears to change its size.

Take advantage of comments to document your work and use the best way to display them that fits your situation.

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