Excel -- Comments -- Tips

Some tips for working with comments.

Change the User Name
Change Comment Shape
Add a Picture to a Comment
Change the default Font Size 
Change the Comment Indicator Colour 
Alternative to Cell Comments

 


Change the User Name

Instead of showing the user name at the start of a comment, you can change to something generic, such as "Note:" However, this change affects the User Name in all Microsoft Office programs, so you may want to reset the name before you exit Excel.
  1. Choose Tools|Options
  2. Select the General tab
  3. Delete the existing User Name, and type a new entry
  4. Click OK
 Uer Name


Change the Comment Shape

Add a bit of interest to a worksheet, by changing the comment shape from a rectangle.
  1. Right-click the cell which contains the comment.
  2. Choose Edit Comment
  3. Click on the border of the comment, to select it.
  4. On the Drawing toolbar, click the Draw button
  5. Choose Change AutoShape, and choose a category.
  6. Click on a shape to select it.
  7. When finished, click outside the comment.

 

  Database

 Database


Add a Picture to a Comment

  1. Right-click the cell which contains the comment.
  2. Choose Show/Hide Comments, and clear any text from the comment.
  3. Click on the border of the comment, to select it.
  4. Choose Format|Comment
  5. On the Colors and Lines tab, click the drop-down arrow for Color.
  6. Click Fill Effects
  7. On the picture tab, click Select Picture
  8. Locate and select the picture
  9. To keep the picture in proportion, add a check mark to Lock Picture Aspect Ratio
  10. Click Insert, click OK, click OK

Watch the steps in a short video.
 
 Comment Picture


Change the Default Font Size

You can change the font size of new comments by changing the settings in your Control Panel.
(Instructions for Windows XP)

  1. Right-click on the desktop, and choose Properties
  2. On the Appearance tab, click Advanced.
  3. From the Item dropdown, choose Tooltip
  4. Choose a font Size, click OK, click OK

(Note: selecting a font type here will not affect the default font used in Excel's comments)

 
 
 


Change the Comment Indicator Colour

Comment indicators are red, and there's no option to change that setting. As a workaround, you can draw triangular shapes over the indicators, and fill them with a different colour from the palette.

For instructions, see Comments -- Programming
 
 Indicator Colour


Alternative to Cell Comments

Add a comment to a Data Validation Input Message, and it can be displayed when you tab to the cell.

  1. Select the cell in which you want to see the message
  2. Choose Data|Data Validation
  3. Click on the Input Message tab to activate it
  4. Add a check mark to 'Show input message when cell is selected'
  5. Type your message heading text in the Title box. This text will appear in bold print at the top of the message.
  6. Type your message in the Input message box.
  7. Click OK
 Input Message
 
  1. Comments -- Basics
  2. Comments -- Tips
  3. Comments -- Programming
 

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Last updated: July 5, 2008 10:41 PM