Delete a single comment by right-clicking it

Open the spreadsheet in Excel and locate the cell with the comment you want to remove. A small red triangle or indicator appears in the corner of cells that contain comments. Right-click on that cell, then select Delete Comment from the menu that appears. The comment disappears when ready.

If you are using Excel on a Mac, the process is the same: right-click (or Control-click) the cell and choose Delete Comment. The comment is gone and cannot be recovered, so make sure you no longer need it before you delete.

Key Takeaways

  • Right-click any cell with a comment and select Delete Comment to remove it in one step.
  • Use the Review tab to see all comments at once and delete multiple comments without hunting through the sheet.
  • Delete all comments in a spreadsheet at once by selecting all cells, then using the Delete Comment option from the Review menu.
  • Deleted comments cannot be recovered, so verify you no longer need the note before removing it.

Remove multiple comments using the Review tab

If your spreadsheet has many comments scattered across different cells, the Review tab gives you a faster way to see and delete them all. Click the Review tab at the top of Excel, then look for the Comments section. You will see buttons for Previous and Next that let you move from one comment to the next.

When you reach a comment you want to delete, click the small X button that appears on the comment box itself, or right-click the cell and choose Delete Comment. This method works well when you need to review each comment before deciding whether to keep or remove it.

Delete all comments at once

To remove every comment in the entire spreadsheet in one action, first select all cells by pressing Ctrl+A (or Cmd+A on Mac). Then go to the Review tab and click the small arrow next to Delete in the Comments section. Choose Delete All Comments and Ink from the dropdown menu.

Excel will remove every comment in the sheet without asking for confirmation, so use this only when you are certain you want to clear all notes. If you have comments you want to keep, use the single-delete or Review-tab method instead to remove only the ones you no longer need.

Find comments before you delete them

If you are not sure where comments are located in a large spreadsheet, use the Find & Replace feature to locate them. Press Ctrl+H (or Cmd+H on Mac) to open Find & Replace, then click Options to expand the menu. Check the box for Comments and click Find All. Excel will list every cell that contains a comment.

From that list, you can click on any cell to jump to it and see the comment. This is useful when you inherit a spreadsheet from someone else and need to understand what notes are attached before deciding what to delete.

Difference between deleting and hiding comments

Deleting a comment removes it permanently from the file. If you want to keep the comment but just hide it from view while you work, you can do that instead. Right-click the cell with the comment and select Hide Comment (or Show Comment to make it visible again). The comment stays in the file but does not display on screen.

Hiding is useful when comments clutter your view but you might need them later. Deleting is the right choice when you are sure the note is no longer useful and you want to clean up the file.

Comments in shared or cloud-based spreadsheets

If you are working in Excel Online or a shared file on OneDrive or SharePoint, comments work slightly differently. Click on the cell with the comment to open it in the side panel. Look for the trash or delete icon next to the comment text and click it. The comment is removed, and other people with access to the file will see that it is gone.

In shared files, deleting a comment is visible to everyone — there is no undo once you close the file. If multiple people are editing the same spreadsheet, consider asking in a separate comment or message before deleting notes that someone else wrote.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I undo a deleted comment?

No. Once you delete a comment in Excel, it cannot be recovered. If you delete by mistake, you can press Ctrl+Z when ready to undo, but only if you have not made other changes since the deletion. After you close and reopen the file, the comment is gone for good.

What is the difference between a comment and a note in Excel?

In older versions of Excel, "notes" and "comments" were separate features. In modern Excel, they are the same thing — the small indicators in cell corners that hold text. You delete both the same way: right-click the cell and select Delete Comment.

How do I delete a comment without opening the cell?

Right-click the cell with the comment indicator and choose Delete Comment from the menu. You do not need to open or edit the cell itself. The comment disappears when ready.

Will deleting a comment affect the data in the cell?

No. Comments are separate from cell data. Deleting a comment removes only the note, not the number, text, or formula in the cell. The cell contents stay exactly as they were.

Can I delete comments from a protected spreadsheet?

It depends on how the sheet is protected. If the spreadsheet owner protected it but allowed comment editing, you can delete comments. If they locked down all editing, you cannot delete comments until the sheet is unprotected. Ask the sheet owner to unprotect it if you need to remove comments.