Mastering how to hide comments in Excel is essential for presenting data professionally in shared workbooks.

Dealing with comments in a shared Excel workbook is like managing annotations on a company memo from your manager or a senior official—you can’t simply erase those, also you need a way to keep the workspace clean and organized.

When comments pile up, they can distract from the data you’re working with, but deleting them isn’t an option. That’s where the ability to hide comments comes in.

In this Microsoft Excel tutorial, I’ll guide you through an easy, professional solution to streamline your workbook without altering any important feedback. Let’s dive in and declutter your worksheets.

Excel Hide Comments Using the Review Tab

The Show Comments command controls the overall visibility of all comments in your worksheets. Find below different ways to use this command in standalone and shared workbooks:

In an Offline Workbook

Let’s consider that the Comments navigation panel is open on the right side of the Excel app.

Click on the Show Comments button in the Comments block of the Review tab.

This will instantly hide the comment sidebar.

In an Online Workbook

You should see the Comments button in the top right corner of the Share button.

Click Comments to hide all comments if the Comments navigation pane is already open.

It works as a toggle button. If comments were already hidden, clicking the Comments button will show the Comments sidebar.

Excel Hide Comments in Printed Outputs

Are you seeing unwanted comments in printed spreadsheets? The author of the workbook might likely have enabled the print comments feature in the Page Setup tool. Follow the instructions outlined below to hide comments from any spreadsheet you print.

Navigate to the Page Layout tab in the Excel ribbon menu.

Click on the Page Setup extension icon in the bottom right corner of the Page Setup block.

The Page Setup dialog box will open.

Click on the Sheet tab to find the comments printing controls.

Select the None option in the Comments and notes drop-down menu.

Click OK to save.

Just to ensure that the new setting is working or not, press Ctrl + P to bring up the Print settings dialog box.

Scroll down to the last few worksheets in the Print Preview area. If any comments are being printed, those should show up at the end of the Print Preview.

Excel Hide Comments Using Excel Options

The default setting of Excel only shows a purple arrow in the top right corner of a cell containing a comment. Only when you hover over the cell, you can see the floating comment interface.

Now, if a worksheet contains so many comments in a small range of cells, the visibility of the actual dataset might get hampered. If you don’t need the comments immediately or all the times when editing an Excel worksheet, you can simply hide the comment icons as well as the comment editing interface.

For this, you can use the Excel Options tool.

Go to the source worksheet and press Alt + F + T to bring up the Excel Options dialog box.

Click on the Advanced menu in the left-side navigation panel.

Scroll down on the right side to the Display section.

Select the No comments, notes, or indicators setting in the For cells with comments, show: section.

Click OK to save the changes you’ve made.

You won’t see any comment indicators when you go back to the worksheet. Also, if you hover the mouse cursor over any cell that actually contains a comment, no floating comment box will show either.

You can reverse the steps outlined above to reactivate the comments.

Alternatively, you can go to the Review tab and click on the Show Comments button to make all comments visible in the Comments sidebar.

Excel Hide Comments Using a VBA Macro

If you frequently need to hide comments in multiple workbooks, you can create and use a VBA macro to automate the process. It allows you to hide all comments from the whole workbook including the indicators in one click.

If you’re new to Excel VBA programming, read the Microsoft Excel tutorial given below to learn the simple steps to set up a macro using any VBA script:

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

Alternatively, if you already know the steps to develop a VBA macro, go ahead with the script outlined below:

 Sub HideAllCommentsAndIndicators()
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Dim cmt As Comment

    ' Set the worksheet to the active sheet
    Set ws = ActiveSheet

    ' Loop through each comment in the sheet and hide them
    For Each cmt In ws.Comments
        cmt.Visible = False
    Next cmt

    ' Hide comment indicators
    Application.DisplayCommentIndicator = xlNoIndicator
End Sub

After creating and saving the macro, press Alt + F8 to launch the Macro dialog box.

Select the HideAllCommentsAndIndicators macro and hit Run.

Excel will hide the comments and indicators.

You only need to run the macro ones per workbook.

To reverse the process, like to reveal the comments and their indicators, use this script to set up another macro:

Sub ShowAllCommentsAndIndicators()
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Dim cmt As Comment
    
    ' Loop through each worksheet in the workbook
    For Each ws In ThisWorkbook.Sheets
        ' Loop through each comment in the worksheet and make them visible
        For Each cmt In ws.Comments
            cmt.Visible = True
        Next cmt
    Next ws
    
    ' Show comment indicators
    Application.DisplayCommentIndicator = xlCommentAndIndicator
    
    MsgBox "All comments and indicators have been shown for all worksheets.", vbInformation, "Task Complete"
End Sub

When you run the second script, Excel will restore the comment indicators and floating comment interfaces.

Conclusions

Hiding comments in Excel can make your worksheets cleaner, easier to read, and more professional. Whether you’re working on a team report or sharing data with clients, choosing the right method matters.

Using the Review tab is quick for hiding comments on the fly, while the Page Setup option ensures your prints look tidy.

Disabling comment indicators in Excel Options is great for everyday clarity, and a VBA macro is a smart pick for repetitive tasks.

Try these methods and see which works best for your needs. Which method do you prefer? Share your thoughts in the comments below!