Did you know that you can select all comments in the current sheet? Press F5, click "Special..." button, select "Comments" and then click OK.

What happens if we record a macro while performing these actions? This is what the macro recorder returns:

Sub Macro1()
Selection.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeComments).Select
End Sub

We can use this code to retrieve all comments, their cell values, addresses and so on.

List all comments in a sheet

The following code iterates through each cell containing a comment and saves the cell value, comment and address to a new sheet.

Sub Macro1()
Dim WS As Worksheet
Dim Rng As Range
Dim cell As Variant
Dim i As Single

Set Rng = ActiveSheet.Cells.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeComments)
Set WS = Sheets.Add

WS.Range("A1") = "Address"
WS.Range("B1") = "Comment"
WS.Range("C1") = "Cell value"
i = 2
For Each cell In Rng
    WS.Range("A" & i) = cell.Address
    WS.Range("B" & i) = cell.Comment.Text
    WS.Range("C" & i) = cell.Value
    i = i + 1
Next cell
End Sub

Build a list of comments from all sheets in a workbook to a new sheet

This code checks all sheets in the current workbook for comments.

Sub Macro2()
Dim WS As Worksheet, WoSh As Worksheet
Dim Rng As Range
Dim cell As Variant
Dim i As Single

Set WS = Sheets.Add

WS.Range("A1") = "Sheet"
WS.Range("B1") = "Address"
WS.Range("C1") = "Comment"
WS.Range("D1") = "Cell value"
i = 2
For Each WoSh In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets
    On Error Resume Next
    Set Rng = WoSh.Cells.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeComments)
    If Not Rng Is Nothing Then
        For Each cell In Rng
            WS.Range("A" & i) = WoSh.Name
            WS.Range("B" & i) = cell.Address
            WS.Range("C" & i) = cell.Comment.Text
            WS.Range("C" & i).WrapText = False
            WS.Range("D" & i) = cell.Value
            i = i + 1
        Next cell
    End If
    Set Rng = Nothing
Next WoSh

End Sub

Build a list of comments from all sheets in all open workbooks

This code checks all open workbooks for comments.

Sub Macro3()
Dim WS As Worksheet, WoSh As Worksheet
Dim WB As Workbook
Dim Rng As Range
Dim cell As Variant
Dim i As Single

Set WS = Sheets.Add

WS.Range("A1") = "Workbook"
WS.Range("B1") = "Sheet"
WS.Range("C1") = "Address"
WS.Range("D1") = "Comment"
WS.Range("E1") = "Cell value"
i = 2
For Each WB In Workbooks
    For Each WoSh In WB.Worksheets
        On Error Resume Next
        Set Rng = WoSh.Cells.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeComments)
        If Not Rng Is Nothing Then
            For Each cell In Rng
                WS.Range("A" & i) = WB.Name
                WS.Range("B" & i) = WoSh.Name
                WS.Range("C" & i) = cell.Address
                WS.Range("D" & i) = cell.Comment.Text
                WS.Range("D" & i).WrapText = False
                WS.Range("E" & i) = cell.Value
                i = i + 1
            Next cell
        End If
        Set Rng = Nothing
    Next WoSh
Next WB
Columns("A:E").AutoFit
End Sub

Build a list of comments from all workbooks in a folder

I have reused some code from this macro: Search all workbooks in a folder

Sub Macro4()
Dim WS As Worksheet
Dim myfolder As String
Dim Str As String
Dim a As Single
Dim sht As Worksheet
Dim c As Range

Set WS = Sheets.Add
With Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFolderPicker)
    .Show
    myfolder = .SelectedItems(1) & "\"
End With
WS.Range("A1") = "Workbook"
WS.Range("B1") = "Sheet"
WS.Range("C1") = "Address"
WS.Range("D1") = "Comment"
WS.Range("E1") = "Cell value"

a = 0
Value = Dir(myfolder)
Do Until Value = ""
    If Value = "." Or Value = ".." Then
    Else
        If Right(Value, 3) = "xls" Or Right(Value, 4) = "xlsx" Or Right(Value, 4) = "xlsm" Then
            On Error Resume Next
            Workbooks.Open Filename:=myfolder & Value, Password:="zzzzzzzzzzzz"
            If Err.Number > 0 Then
                WS.Range("A2").Offset(a, 0).Value = Value & " : Password protected"
                a = a + 1
            Else
                On Error GoTo 0
                For Each sht In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets
                        On Error Resume Next
                        Set c = sht.Cells.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeComments)
                        If Not c Is Nothing Then
                            For Each cell In c
                                WS.Range("A2").Offset(a, 0).Value = Value
                                WS.Range("B2").Offset(a, 0).Value = sht.Name
                                WS.Range("C2").Offset(a, 0).Value = cell.Address
                                WS.Range("D2").Offset(a, 0).Value = cell.Comment.Text
                                WS.Range("D2").Offset(a, 0).WrapText = False
                                a = a + 1
                            Next cell
                        End If
                        Set c = Nothing
                Next sht
            End If
            Workbooks(Value).Close False
            On Error GoTo 0
        End If
    End If
    Value = Dir
Loop
Cells.EntireColumn.AutoFit
End Sub

Interesting articles you must read

List all open workbooks and corresponding sheets (vba)

Extract cell references from all cell ranges populated with values in a sheet

Download excel *.xlsm file

List-comments1.xlsm

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