Follow along with the methods presented here to learn how to copy comments in Microsoft Excel.

You often need to copy comments from one comment to another for ease of commenting or for record purposes. This task can become extremely boring and painstaking if you start copying one comment at a time using the mouse. You can do this for one or two comments, but it’s not suitable for a large workbook with endless comments.

When there are many comments, and you need to find an efficient and error-free method to copy comments, try out the procedures outlined below for the best results.

Manually Copy and Paste a Comment

If you need to copy one or two comments in your worksheet, you can follow this manual method for copying comments.

Hover the cursor over the cell that contains the comment you wish to copy.

The comment will show up in a pop-up dialog box.

Click on the pencil icon in the top right corner of the comment box. It’s the Edit comment button.

The comment will now become editable.

Click on the comment field and press Ctrl + A to copy the content.

Now, click on the checkmark icon to save the comment in its source cell.

Go to the cell where you wish to apply this copied comment, right-click, and choose the New Comment option from the context menu.

Press Ctrl + V in the comment field to paste the copied comment from the source cell.

Press Ctrl + Enter to apply the comment to the new cell.

That’s it! You’ve successfully copied and pasted a comment from one cell to another.

Using the Paste Special Feature

If the manual copying and pasting method isn’t your thing, you can use the Paste Special feature to copy comments with ease.

Go to the source cell that has the comment. Press Ctrl + C to copy the content of the cell along with the comment.

Now, go to the destination cell and press Ctrl + Alt + V to bring up the Paste Special dialog box.

Select the Comments and Notes option in the Paste column in Paste Special.

Click OK to save the changes you’ve made.

The copied comment will show up in the destination cell.

You don’t even need to use the New Comment tool from the right-click context menu.

Copying Comments From and to Multiple Cells

If there are multiple cells from which you need to copy comments and paste into another set of cells, you can use the Paste Special feature. Also, you can copy comments from one cell and paste them into multiple cells. Let me explain both the scenarios to you in easy steps.

Suppose you want to copy a comment from one cell and apply that to multiple cells in another dataset.

Copy the comment from the source cell.

Select one or more cells in the destination dataset. You can use the Ctrl + mouse click to selectively highlight multiple cells.

You can also select a cell range if you wish.

Now, press Ctrl + Alt + V to launch the Paste Special tool.

Select the Comments and Notes option from the Paste column and click OK.

Excel will add the copied comment to all of the selected cells.

In another example, you might want to transfer the same sets of comments to a different dataset of the same structure as the source dataset.

So, what you should do is select the entire source dataset that contains comments and copy it by pressing the Ctrl + C keys.

Now, go to the destination dataset, which has been organized similarly to the source dataset, and press Ctrl + Alt + V to launch the Paste Special dialog box.

Select the Comments and Notes option from the Paste section of Paste Special.

Click OK to save the changes.

Excel will copy the comments from the source to the destination dataset instantly.

Copy Comments Using Keyboard Shortcuts

If you prefer using keyboard navigation for better productivity in Microsoft Excel, this method is specifically for you.

Use the keyboard navigation to select the source cell.

Press Ctrl + C to copy.

Go to the destination cell and press Alt + E + S to bring up the Paste Special dialog box.

Simply press C on the keyboard to select the Comments and Notes option in Paste Special.

Hit Enter to apply this configuration.

Excel will transfer the comment from the source to the destination cell instantly.

Using Excel VBA

So far, the methods you learned to copy comments in Excel are based on user interface commands and keyboard shortcuts.

Now, you might need an automated system in your Excel workbook to quickly copy comments in different sheets and use them in smart ways, like list comments or copy those to a different set of data cells.

You can easily create such an automated system using Excel VBA macro. It allows you to create an automated program within Excel with the help of VBA scripting.

This method involves two steps. Firstly, you need to create a macro using a VBA script within the Excel desktop app.

Then, run the macro and indicate the input datasets so that the VBA macro can perform tasks that have been configured in the VBA script.

To learn how to set up a macro from a VBA script, check out this quick Excel tutorial:

📒 Read More: How To Use The VBA Code You Find Online

Now, if you’re ready to create your own VBA macro, use the following script as is:

Sub CopyAndManageComments()
    Dim commentRange As Range
    Dim copiedComment As String
    Dim response As VbMsgBoxResult
    Dim pasteRange As Range
    Dim newSheet As Worksheet
    Dim cell As Range
    Dim commentText As String
    
    ' Step 1: Show input box to select a cell or range with comments
    On Error Resume Next
    Set commentRange = Application.InputBox("Select a cell or range with comments:", "Select Comment Range", Type:=8)
    On Error GoTo 0
    
    ' Exit if no range is selected
    If commentRange Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
    
    ' Step 2: Copy the comment from the selected cell
    If Not commentRange.Cells(1).CommentThreaded Is Nothing Then
        copiedComment = commentRange.Cells(1).CommentThreaded.Text
    Else
        MsgBox "The selected cell does not contain a threaded comment.", vbExclamation
        Exit Sub
    End If
    
    ' Step 3: Ask if the user wants to paste the comment as a list in a new worksheet
    response = MsgBox("Do you want to paste the copied comment as a list in a new worksheet?", vbYesNo + vbQuestion, "Paste Comment as List")
    
    If response = vbYes Then
        ' Create a new worksheet and paste the comment as a list
        Set newSheet = Worksheets.Add
        newSheet.Name = "Comments List"
        newSheet.Range("A1").Value = "Copied Comments"
        newSheet.Range("A2").Value = copiedComment
        MsgBox "Comment pasted as a list in a new worksheet.", vbInformation
    End If
    
    ' Step 4: Show input box to select cells where the copied comment will be added
    On Error Resume Next
    Set pasteRange = Application.InputBox("Select cells where you want to add the copied comment:", "Select Paste Range", Type:=8)
    On Error GoTo 0
    
    ' Exit if no range is selected
    If pasteRange Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
    
    ' Step 5: Add the copied comment to the selected cells
    For Each cell In pasteRange
        If cell.CommentThreaded Is Nothing Then
            cell.AddCommentThreaded (copiedComment)
        Else
            cell.CommentThreaded.Text cell.CommentThreaded.Text & vbNewLine & copiedComment
        End If
    Next cell
    
    ' Step 6: Show confirmation dialog
    MsgBox "Comments have been added to the selected cells.", vbInformation
End Sub

Once the macro is ready, press Alt + F8 to launch the Macro dialog box.

Now, select the CopyAndManageComments macro and hit the Run button.

The VBA macro will show a series of input boxes to guide you through the comment complying process.

Firstly, you’ll see an input box so you can select one or multiple source cells with comments that you wish to copy.

Now, the VBA macro will ask you if you wish to copy the comments in the selected cells and create a list of comments in a separate worksheet. If you choose yes, the macro will create a list of copied comments and end the process there.

If you choose No, the VBA macro will show another input box so you can select one or multiple cells to which you wish to apply the copied comments.

When you enter all the inputs accurately, the VBA macro copies the selected comments instantly.

⚠️ Warning: Any changes you make to the dataset using Excel VBA macro become permanent. You can’t undo it using the Excel undo feature. So, create a backup copy of the workbook before using this method.

Conclusions

You should now be able to copy comments in Microsoft Excel in various ways. I’ve demonstrated multiple methods above. You can try all of these and choose one or two to implement in regular projects you handle.

If you liked the Excel tutorial and want to share your thoughts, use the comment box.