Today I’ll show you how to delete notes in Microsoft Excel in tried and tested ways.

Notes on Excel sheets allow you to add more context to data analysis as annotations. You can provide explanations for users or collaborators, highlight important formulas in cells, leave review notes, clarify formula or data analysis logic, and so on.

However, when there are too many notes in a sheet, the actual data can get buried and the whole thing looks like a cluttered workspace. Here, the ability to delete notes in Excel steps in. It might seem an easy task but knowing the best methods will help you save time. Follow along with me as I show multiple ways to remove notes and keep the spreadsheet readable.

Using Right-Click Menu

The easiest way to delete a note is using the right-click context menu.

Simply navigate to the originating cell of the note, right-click, and look up the Delete Note command.

If there are multiple notes, select the entire cell range, right-click, and hit the Delete Note option.

Excel will remove all the notes and their contents in the selected cells.

You can get back accidentally deleted notes by using the Excel undo feature. You only need to press Ctrl + Z keys together.

Using the Ribbon (Review Tab)

If you’d like to navigate Excel using the keyboard, you can use the Delete command in the Comments block of the Review tab to erase notes.

You can select one or more cells containing notes and press the Alt > R > D keys in sequence to delete the selected notes.

Please note that the Delete command in the Comments section will only show if you’ve selected any cell containing notes.

Sometimes, notes might not show up on the worksheet because visibility has been disabled by the Excel Options tool. Even in that situation, the Delete command will show if you select a cell from which a note originates.

Using the Clear Command

The Clear tool in the Editing block of the Excel Home tab allows you to get rid of everything from a spreadsheet, like formatting, comments, hyperlinks, cell styles, data, and notes. This is the Clear Comments and Notes option in the Clear drop-down menu.

Navigate to the worksheet where there are many notes.

Click on the Clear drop-down menu in the Editing block of the Home tab.

Select the Clear Comments and Notes option from the context menu.

This command deletes all notes and threaded comments, so no need to select a specific cell or cell range.

However, if you wish to remove a specific set of notes, simply select those and use the Clear Comments and Notes command. Excell will only delete the selected notes and leave the rest of the notes intact.

A downside of this method is that it’ll delete notes and threaded comments from the entire worksheet.

Using the Go To Special Command

Another efficient and convenient method to delete all notes in a worksheet is by using the Go To command.

Open the source worksheet and press the Ctrl + G keys together to open the Go To dialog box.

Click on the Special button in the bottom left corner to open the Go To Special tool.

Under the Select section, click on the Notes category.

Click OK on the Go to Special dialog box to select all the notes in one go.

You can now right-click on any of the selected cells containing a note and click on the Delete Note option from the context menu.

Using the Find and Replace Tool

Sometimes, you might want to delete notes that contain specific keywords. For example, there are a bunch of notes containing the word Priority. Now, you see that certain tasks or cells in the worksheet are no longer a priority or have been completed already.

You can use any of the methods explained so far to manually check each note and delete those. However, instead of doing that, you can quickly select all the cells containing notes with the keyword Priority and delete them in one click. To do this, use the Find and Replace tool.

Firstly, open the worksheet from which you wish to remove unnecessary notes.

Press Ctrl + F to bring up the Find and Replace tool.

Type the keyword you’re looking for in the Find what field. In this tutorial, it’s the word Priority.

Now, click on the Options button to extend the Find and Replace tool.

Click on the Look in drop-down menu and choose Notes from the context menu.

Hit the Find All button at the bottom of the Find and Replace tool.

A result window will open at the bottom of the Find and Replace tool. There, you should see all the cells that contain a note with the specified word Priority.

If there are many results and you’d like to see all of those in one screen, simply extend the Find and Replace results pane by clicking and dragging the resize handle in the lower right corner.

Click on one cell address in the results panel.

Now, press Ctrl + A to select all the cells in the Find and Replace results dialog box.

You should also see that the same cells have been automatically highlighted and selected on the active worksheet.

Click on the Close button.

Now, go to the Editing block on the Excel Home tab.

Click on the Clear drop-down menu and select Clear Comments and Notes.

That’s it! You’ve selectively deleted some notes without affecting the other automatically in a few clicks instead of manually examining each note and deleting them one by one.

Delete Notes From Multiple Worksheets

If you’re cleaning notes from multiple worksheets in one workbook and you have to repeat the same process in many workbooks, you need an automated method. Excel VBA is the best way to go with. It allows you to set up a macro which you can run from your Excel profile in multiple workbooks once set up in one Excel file.

Now, before you can create the macro, learn the process here:

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

Now, use this script to set up a macro:

Sub DeleteNotesBasedOnKeyword()
    Dim keyword As String
    Dim deleteFromMultipleSheets As VbMsgBoxResult
    Dim sheetNames As String
    Dim sheetsToProcess As Variant
    Dim sheet As Worksheet
    Dim noteCount As Long
    Dim totalNotesDeleted As Long
    Dim sheetsProcessed As Long
    Dim i As Long
    
    ' Step 1: Get the keyword to search for in notes
    keyword = InputBox("Enter the keyword to search for in notes (e.g., 'priority'):", "Keyword Input")
    If keyword = "" Then Exit Sub ' Exit if no keyword is entered
    
    ' Step 2: Ask whether to delete notes from active sheet or multiple sheets
    deleteFromMultipleSheets = MsgBox("Do you want to delete notes from multiple worksheets?", vbYesNo + vbQuestion, "Delete Notes")
    
    ' Step 3: If multiple sheets are selected, get the sheet names
    If deleteFromMultipleSheets = vbYes Then
        sheetNames = InputBox("Enter the worksheet names separated by commas (e.g., Sheet1,Sheet2,Sheet3):", "Worksheet Names")
        If sheetNames = "" Then Exit Sub ' Exit if no sheet names are entered
        sheetsToProcess = Split(sheetNames, ",")
    Else
        ' If only the active sheet is selected, use the active sheet
        ReDim sheetsToProcess(0 To 0)
        sheetsToProcess(0) = ActiveSheet.Name
    End If
    
    ' Step 4: Process the sheets and delete notes containing the keyword
    totalNotesDeleted = 0
    sheetsProcessed = 0
    
    For i = LBound(sheetsToProcess) To UBound(sheetsToProcess)
        On Error Resume Next
        Set sheet = ThisWorkbook.Sheets(Trim(sheetsToProcess(i)))
        On Error GoTo 0
        
        If Not sheet Is Nothing Then
            noteCount = 0
            Dim cell As Range
            For Each cell In sheet.UsedRange
                On Error Resume Next
                ' Check if the cell has a note (legacy notes) or a comment
                If Not cell.Comment Is Nothing Then
                    If InStr(1, cell.Comment.Text, keyword, vbTextCompare) > 0 Then
                        cell.Comment.Delete
                        noteCount = noteCount + 1
                    End If
                End If
                On Error GoTo 0
            Next cell
            
            totalNotesDeleted = totalNotesDeleted + noteCount
            sheetsProcessed = sheetsProcessed + 1
        End If
    Next i
    
    ' Step 5: Show confirmation dialog box
    MsgBox totalNotesDeleted & " notes containing the keyword '" & keyword & "' have been deleted from " & sheetsProcessed & " worksheet(s).", vbInformation, "Confirmation"
End Sub

Once done, press Alt + F8 to launch the Macro dialog.

Select the DeleteNotesBasedOnKeyword macro in the list and hit the Run button.

Firstly, you’ll see a dialog box asking you to enter a keyword by which you wish to delete notes.

Now, you need to choose whether you wish to delete notes from one worksheet or many worksheets.

If you select No, the script will run and only notes from the active worksheet will be deleted.

Contrarily, if you select Yes, you’ll see another input box where you can enter the name of the source sheet names separated by commas.

Click OK to execute the script.

Excel VBA will delete the notes you wanted to remove and show statistics of the objects deleted.

⚠️ Warning: You can’t undo the changes you make to an Excel workbook using an Excel VBA script. So, create a backup copy before using this method.

Conclusions

If you’re here, congratulations! You’ve learned all proven methods to delete notes in Microsoft Excel.

You can try the method you like depending on the situation you’re solving.

If you’ve learned a new Microsoft Excel skill today and have found this tutorial helpful, share your thoughts or acknowledgments in the comment box.