In Excel: right-click a cell and choose New Comment for a threaded discussion comment, or Review ▸ Notes ▸ New Note for a classic yellow sticky note — Shift+F2 inserts one on the active cell, and a small marker triangle appears in the corner.
Click the cell you want to annotate.
For a discussion, right-click ▸ New Comment (or Review ▸ New Comment); type your text and click away to post.
For a plain sticky note, use Review ▸ Notes ▸ New Note, or press Shift+F2.
Hover the cell to read the annotation; click the marker triangle to reply to a comment.
Use Review ▸ Show Comments to read every comment in the side pane.
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 “make a comment 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 layout choice that keeps the sheet readable and sortable, 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. If there is any chance you will reuse this, drop it into a small template tab right now: a labelled input area on the left and the formula beside it, checked once against the tool above. Next time the same question comes up, the answer is a single paste away instead of a rebuild from memory.
In Google Sheets
Google Sheets handles this almost identically to Excel. The formula syntax above is the same, and the menu lives under a slightly different label rather than a ribbon tab. Use the platform toggle at the top of the page to switch every keyboard shortcut between Windows and Mac, and expect at most cosmetic differences in naming. Keep this page bookmarked for the next time the same question comes up. Better still, rebuild the example once in your own sheet — doing it yourself, with the tool above to check against, is what turns a copied formula into a technique you own. If you take one thing from this page on “make a comment in excel”, make it the habit rather than the keystrokes: set the problem up with labelled inputs, reference those cells, and let Excel do the recomputing. Bookmark the page for the syntax, but do the example once in a blank sheet and check it against the tool above — five minutes of hands-on practice fixes the method in memory far better than re-reading, and it surfaces the small snags while they are still harmless. After that the technique is genuinely yours: faster than searching for it again, and reliable enough to drop into work that other people depend on.
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
What is the difference between a comment and a note?
A comment is a threaded discussion with replies and an author; a note is a plain yellow sticky annotation. Review ▸ New Comment makes the first, Review ▸ Notes ▸ New Note makes the second.
What is the keyboard shortcut to insert one?
Shift+F2 adds a comment or note to the active cell. In Google Sheets it is Ctrl+Alt+M.
How do I show all comments at once?
Review ▸ Show Comments opens the side pane listing every threaded comment in the sheet.
How do I print the comments?
Open Page Setup ▸ Sheet, set the Comments box to "At end of sheet" or "As displayed on sheet", then print.