A good spreadsheet explains itself. Notes let you record where a number came from or why an assumption was made, so the next person (or you, in six months) isn't left guessing.
Step by step
- Select the cell you want to annotate.
- Press Shift+F2. A note box opens beside the cell.
- Type your note.
- Click back on the sheet when you're done. A small red triangle marks the cell.
Tips & troubleshooting
- Press Shift+F2 on a cell that already has a note to edit it.
- On many laptops you need Fn+Shift+F2.
Notes and comments are different things
Microsoft 365 has two annotation tools and the names cause confusion. A note is the yellow box Excel has always had: a private-style annotation with no reply button. Older versions called these comments.
A comment in current Excel is a threaded conversation with your name, a timestamp, replies and @mentions that notify colleagues. Press Ctrl+Shift+F2 to start one. Use notes to explain the sheet, and comments to discuss it with other people.
Working with notes
- Read one: hover over a cell with a red triangle in its corner.
- Show them all: on the Review tab choose Notes, then Show All Notes.
- Finish typing from the keyboard: press Esc twice to return to the cell.
- Delete one: right-click the cell and choose Delete Note.
- Resize one: edit the note and drag its handles, useful when the default box hides half your text.
- Copy one to other cells: copy the cell, then use Paste Special (Ctrl+Alt+V) and choose Comments and Notes.
What makes a useful note
Write down what the next person can't work out from the cell itself: the source of a hard-typed figure and the date it was taken, the reason for an assumption, or an instruction such as update this rate each April. Avoid restating the formula. For long explanations, a documentation sheet at the front of the workbook is easier to maintain than fifty notes.
Printing notes
Notes don't print by default. Go to Page Layout, open the Page Setup dialog, and on the Sheet tab set Comments and notes to At end of sheet, or As displayed on sheet if you have chosen Show All Notes.