Max Comment Limit?

[Tim_Zhao]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Software: Excel 2004
Computer: Leopard (Intel)

Issue: Inserted comments disappear after save and re-open.

Detail: I have a workbook with 6 worksheets residing inside. One of these worksheets has approximately 1000 comments in it.

When I try to add additional comments, I find that even though it saves with no error messages, when I close and reopen the file, all the new comments have disappeared.

When I open this same spreadsheet on a PC, with Excel 2003 and add the same comments, I find that there is no issue.

Can anyone shed some light on why this issue happens, and possibly how I can work around it?

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Software: Excel 2004
Computer: Leopard (Intel)

Issue: Inserted comments disappear after save and re-open.

Detail: I have a workbook with 6 worksheets residing inside. One of these
worksheets has approximately 1000 comments in it.

When I try to add additional comments, I find that even though it saves with
no error messages, when I close and reopen the file, all the new comments
have disappeared.

When I open this same spreadsheet on a PC, with Excel 2003 and add the same
comments, I find that there is no issue.

Can anyone shed some light on why this issue happens, and possibly how I can
work around it?

By "there is no issue" do you mean that the 'disappeared' comments show
up?

Do other changes you make in that workbook show up when you reopen the
file?

I don't know that there's any limit on comments, but my test workbook
with 2000 comments saved fine when I added #2001.

 

[Tim_Zhao]

By "there is no issue" do you mean that the 'disappeared' comments show
up?

No, what I meant was that I have no problems saving new comments into the workbook if it was done on a PC.

Old comments that disappeared do not come back once placed on a PC, if that is what your asking.

Do other changes you make in that workbook show up when you reopen the
file?

Other changes that are made are kept after the file is saved and reopened.

I don't know that there's any limit on comments, but my test workbook
with 2000 comments saved fine when I added #2001.

It seems it is not a limitation of comments itself. The same error occurs in another workbook with 1034 comments.

I also noticed that this bug is worksheet to based. i.e I can still add comments to the other worksheets (which have less than 200 comments) in the same workbook and have them stay there after the file is re-opened.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

It seems it is not a limitation of comments itself. The same error occurs in
another workbook with 1034 comments.

I also noticed that this bug is worksheet to based. i.e I can still add
comments to the other worksheets (which have less than 200 comments) in the
same workbook and have them stay there after the file is re-opened.

Hmm... If you're seeing other changes, I've got no idea why comments
aren't saved as well.

Can you select and copy the cells in your problematic sheets and paste
them into a new worksheet?

 

[Tim_Zhao]

Hmm... If you're seeing other changes, I've got no idea why comments

aren't saved as well.

Can you select and copy the cells in your problematic sheets and paste
them into a new worksheet?

Interestingly, copying and pasting the worksheet into another workbook allowed me to add 2 additional comments which stayed there after the file was reopened.

Any other additional comments that were added afterwards did not save and the same problem occured.

 

[Tim_Zhao]

I have noticed another phenomenon!

Somehow, comments in one cell switch places with comments in another cells...

I save the changes into a new spreadsheet, reopen it and if I compare it to the older file, some of my comments have moved around...

Has anyone encountered such a thing before??

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

I have noticed another phenomenon!

Somehow, comments in one cell switch places with comments in another cells...

I save the changes into a new spreadsheet, reopen it and if I compare it to
the older file, some of my comments have moved around...

Has anyone encountered such a thing before??

Do you mean the comments actually get attached to a different cell? Or, that
the pop-up comments window is in a different place and move on top of
another cell?

If the later, yes. If the former no. Do you have clear repro steps?

 

[Tim_Zhao]

Do you mean the comments actually get attached to a different cell? Or, that

the pop-up comments window is in a different place and move on top of
another cell?

If the later, yes. If the former no. Do you have clear repro steps?

eg. The comment I place in cell A1 is moved to moved to cell F45, when I close and reopen the spreadsheet.

The comment is not simply 'visually' moved to another location.

The referencing cell for the comment is actually changing.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

eg. The comment I place in cell A1 is moved to moved to cell F45, when I
close and reopen the spreadsheet.

The comment is not simply 'visually' moved to another location.

The referencing cell for the comment is actually changing.

Your workbook is either hopelessly corrupted, or you have macros running
that are causing the changes.

After starting XL with the shift key down, open the file using File/Open.

If the comments don't move, it *may* be because starting with the Shift
key down disables macros.

In any case, it probably would be worth opening a fresh workbook, and
copying the original worksheet(s) to the new book. Use CMD-c and CMD-v.
Or if you want to use belt and suspenders, use Edit/Paste Special to
copy Values, Comments, formulas, formats, etc. separately.