Excel 2016 bug/inconsistent behaviour when pasting comments

Question

I've encountered an issue when copying and pasting cells containing comments in Excel 2016.  The problem is repeatable and can be duplicated by following these steps:

1. Pick a row and place a unique value (purely for identification) in each cell for 20 columns, I just use an increasing sequence of numbers, 1 through 20. For the purposes of this example, I'll use the cells A1 through T1.
2. Insert a unique comment (again purely for identification) into the 1st (A1), 2nd (B1), 4th (D1), 7th (G1), 8th (H1), 9th (I1), 13th (M1) and 15th (O1) cells. Again I just use a number matching the value in the cell.
3. Select the 7th cell through to the 20th cell in the row (i:e: select G1:T1) and copy it (Ctrl-C, right click or menu button)
4. Select the 1st cell (A1) in the row and paste (Ctrl-V, right click or menu button)

On my current version of Excel (About box indicates Excel 2016 (16.0.7830.1018) 32 bit running on Windows 10 (1607): this behaviour is inconsistent:

• Cells A1: G1 correctly have both the contents (in my case the numbers 1 through 7) and comments of G1:M1.
• Note: D1 no longer has a comment attached (since J1 didn't) and G1 now has M1's comment (i.e. it was overwritten)
• However: whilst cell H1 now correctly has the contents of N1 its comment has *not* been removed even though N1 didn't have a comment. This doesn't match how D1 was treated.
• Similarly M1 also still has it's original comment despite been copied over with the value from S1.

This behaviour doesn't match how my version of Excel 2010 (14.0.7180.5002 32 bit, same OS/computer) performs the same operation:

• The comments on H1 and M1 are removed after the paste operation (as they are on D1).

Is anyone else able to duplicate this problem or have any idea what the cause of it might be? If it's a bug, it needs to be fixed, if it's a "feature" it needs to be coded around when undesired: the problem was discovered in a calendaring system I built that moves data from right to left as it expires - it worked fine on Excel 2010 but has had numerous issues on Excel 2016 including data corruption.  

I have tested this on another version of Excel 2016 (16.0.7329.1051 32 bit, Windows 7 SP1) on a different computer and strangely its behaviour is the same as Excel 2010 (what I would called the desired and expected behaviour). Interestingly that version of Excel claims to be fully up-to-date even though its version number is actually lower than the one I'm experiencing problems with.

Any help greatly appreciated. Thank you. 

ScottB

Answer 1

Update: Since HansV appeared to have a newer version of Excel I forced an update on my version.

I'm now running Excel 16.0.7927.1017 32 bit and interestingly I haven't yet been able to duplicate the problem on this version of Excel so: progress! I'm not sure if we can consider the problem resolved given that HansV is still experiencing it on what appears to be a higher version number (16.0.7930.1021) although there may be a differences in OS and bit-depth between us. Any further input welcome.

Answer 2

Using your test case, I was unable to duplicate the results you describe; I'm on

16.0.4498.1000 (x32)

running on Win7 Enterprise with SP1 (x64)

(just providing this info for comparison to help narrow down the issue)

Answer 3

ScottB wrote:

I've encountered an issue when copying and pasting cells containing comments in Excel 2016.

[....]

• Note: D1 no longer has a comment attached (since J1 didn't) and G1 now has M1's comment (i.e. it was overwritten)
• However: whilst cell H1 now correctly has the contents of N1 its comment has *not* been removed even though N1 didn't have a comment.

I see a similar behavior in Excel 2007 when I copy a cell with a comment,  then paste-special-value back to the same cell (replace a formula with its value).  The comment indicator goes away, and hovering no longer reveals the comment.  But right-click shows Edit Comment, which does indeed shows the comment.

My work-around:  save and close the file, then reopen it.  That's my go-to work-around for a lot of "inexplicable" things that happen in Excel and VBA.

And yes, it is very disconcerting when it happens, especially in old files that I revisit once in a blue moon.  I depend on the comments to remind me what to do.

Answer 4

Thanks, I've now done this.

I was not aware of that feedback form (still new to Excel 2016) although I have to admit it doesn't inspire confidence as a feedback system. There is no acknowledgement that the feedback has been submitted let alone received and dealt with.

Answer 5

I have Excel 16.0.7930.1021 and see the same erroneous behavior that you describe. You can report this bug through File > Feedback > I Don't Like Something.