Cell comments not showing on mouseover in one workbook

please attach your workbook
you can remove everything from the workbook except a few comments

to attach a workbook
- click Reply
- cick Go Advanced
- look below for Manage Attachments
- follow screen instructions

thanks

Looks like you have solved your problem

My first thought was that your "comments" may have in fact been other objects designed to behave in a similar way
BUT - by transferring everything to a new file you have disproved that thought

Default comment settings apear here:
File \ Option \ Advanced - Comment options appear in Display category
BUT - this must be correctly set already - otherwise all workbooks would display the same symptoms

The VBA to toggle those settings:

With Application
    If .DisplayCommentIndicator = xlNoIndicator Then
        .DisplayCommentIndicator = xlCommentIndicatorOnly
    Else
        .DisplayCommentIndicator = xlNoIndicator
    End If
End With

BUT - again this would set the global variable and would apply to all workbooks

One way to mimic the symptoms:

Private Sub Workbook_Open()
    Application.DisplayCommentIndicator = xlNoIndicator
End Sub

Private Sub Workbook_BeforeClose(Cancel As Boolean)
    Application.DisplayCommentIndicator = xlCommentIndicatorOnly
End Sub

That would leave other workbooks unaffected (unless open at the same time)


Hover characteristics are not something we have much control over, so there is a possibility that your workbook could be corrupted in some way
- in which case all you can do is to create a new file and move all your data and VBA.

Okay, it turned out that the problem was that I have a linked picture on another sheet in the workbook. And there is a bug with linked pictures that prevents cell comments from displaying, at least most of the time (on rare, apparently random occasions they would display).

If I delete the linked picture, the cell comments immediately start working correctly, and consistently.

I discovered this when I tried to make a data validation dropdown on another sheet in the workbook. The dropdown arrow only appeared if I held the mouse down on the cell. If I then slid my mouse over to the dropdown arrow, I could click on it and select an item from the dropdown. But of course you can't deploy it like that to users.

That, too, was fixed when I deleted the linked picture.

The problem now is that I really wanted linked pictures for the Dashboard sheet. Linked pictures allow creating dashboard elements without concern for conflicting needs between elements regarding column widths and row heights. Next step I'm going to look into how others are dealing with the dilemma -- do I really have to choose, or is there some way of using all of those features? Apparently this bug has been around since Excel 2013, which is not a good sign.

UPDATE:

The weird workaround is to put a forms control combobox (note, not an ActiveX combobox) on each affected sheet, with the combobox's input range set to the entire sheet ($1:$1048576). The dropdown flashes when you first click on the cell, and sometimes the cell comments do the same, but that's a very minor complaint.

I'm VERY glad to not have to choose between linked pictures vs. validation dropdowns & cell comments!

Also, confirmed that this bug first appeared in Excel 2013. So tired of MS not fixing Excel bugs. I've been automating Excel since version 4 in 1992 (before VBA), and it seems like I spend more and more of my time working around Excel bugs. This particular bug isn't about VBA, but it happened in a workbook for which I'm doing VBA automation for a client. I won't say who the client is, but let's just say it's a little ironic! ;-)

I had a similar problem occur when I was running a debug on a macro - the hover comments were no longer showing. It turns out I inadvertently didn't allow the macro to finish.
The last instruction was to turn on Automatic Calculation! Now all is good.