How to Remove Comments in Excel

What this does

Modern Excel splits cell annotations in two. Review ▸ New Comment creates a threaded comment built for back-and-forth discussion, with a Reply box and the author's name. Review ▸ Notes ▸ New Note creates the old yellow sticky note for a standalone remark. Both attach to a cell, mark it with a small triangle in the corner (purple for comments, red for notes), and show on hover. Shift+F2 adds one to the active cell. Review ▸ Show Comments opens the side pane to read them all at once. The same idea underpins a lot of everyday Excel work, so the few minutes spent getting it right here pay back across every sheet you build afterwards. Treat it as a pattern, not a one-off, and it stops being something you look up and starts being something you reach for. The difference between a quick fix and a sheet you can trust is the extra minute you spend validating “remove comments in excel”. Start on a copy or a tiny sample, keep the affected comments visible, and compare the result with the tool above before you touch the real workbook. When this is a ribbon command, the selection matters more than the button: confirm the range, apply the command, then spot-check the output before saving. The point is a data step that keeps your analysis trustworthy, but the practical win is that someone else can open the file and understand what happened without asking you.

A worked example

Right-click cell B2 and choose New Comment, type "Verify this figure with finance", then click away — a purple triangle appears in the corner of B2. Hover over B2 to read it, or click the triangle to reply. To leave a plain remark instead, pick Review ▸ Notes ▸ New Note and type the note. Comments and notes let you attach context — a caveat, a source, a question for a colleague — to a specific cell without cluttering the data itself. When the result is not what you expected, undo straight away rather than repairing it by hand — undo restores the sheet exactly, while manual fixes tend to leave small inconsistencies behind that surface later.

In Google Sheets

This is a command rather than a formula, so there is no syntax to carry over. Google Sheets arranges its commands in menus across the top instead of a ribbon, names some of them differently and does not have every Excel command — look for the equivalent in the Sheets menus or its help before assuming the steps match. Keep this page bookmarked for the next time the same question comes up. Better still, repeat the steps once in your own workbook — doing it yourself is what turns a copied answer into something you remember. If you take one thing from this page on “remove comments in excel”, make it the order of checks rather than the individual clicks: confirm what is selected, apply the step, and look at the result before moving on. That small routine is what keeps Excel work predictable when the same task comes back in a slightly different workbook.

Common mistakes

• Confusing threaded comments with notes — converting a sheet between them loses the reply threads.
• Expecting comments to print by default — set Page Setup ▸ Sheet ▸ Comments to "At end of sheet" or "As displayed" first.
• Deleting a cell's contents and assuming the comment goes too — right-click ▸ Delete Comment to remove it.
• Looking for New Note under New Comment — in Microsoft 365 notes live under the separate Review ▸ Notes button.

Frequently asked questions