How to recover Notes from a locally saved Excel file?

Question

How to recover Notes from a locally saved Excel file?

AK 0

I have opened an Excel Version 2507 file saved on my Windows 11 PC and noticed that all the Notes made over the past several years have disappeared. Previous solutions found in Q&As have not worked: the Notes are not hidden, I am in Normal view, and the file is not protected. When I go to Review and Notes, Show All Notes, there are still no Notes. There are also no Comments. I can create and see comments/notes in a new workbook.

I can see marks for Notes/Comments at top right corner of a cell for the newly created Notes, but not for my old Notes.

I cannot see the Notes if I open the workbook from another device.

I did not make any changes on the workbook that may remove comments/notes.

What steps can be taken to recover these Notes?

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Answer 1

Hi AK, this is Kimberly. I'm glad to assist you today.

Please try this method:

ZIP Extraction Method (Advanced)

Excel .xlsx files are ZIP archives. The Notes are stored in separate XML parts inside the file. You can manually inspect them:

Steps:

Make a backup of the Excel file.

Change the file extension from .xlsx to .zip.

Open the ZIP file.

Navigate to this folder inside:

pgsql

Copy code

xl/comments1.xml (this is where old-style Notes live)

xl/threadedComments1.xml (for threaded comments)

Open the XML file in Notepad or a text editor.

If you see your Notes text inside comments1.xml, they are in the file but not being shown due to Excel rendering or file corruption.

If the file is missing or empty, the Notes may be deleted or not saved.

You can extract the text from here manually if needed.

Should you have more questions, please let me know.

Best regards,

Kimberly

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How to recover Notes from a locally saved Excel file?

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