Alt E S C on Mac: Paste Special Comments and Notes in Excel

To run Paste Special Comments and Notes with Alt E S C in Excel on a Mac, install LightningXL, tap Option, then type E, S, C. The same keys as Windows, with the same result.

Step by step

1. Install LightningXL

   Download LightningXL, then follow the instructions. Setup takes about two minutes.

2. Select what to act on

   Click a cell, or select the range the command should apply to.

3. Tap Option, then type E S C

   Tap ⌥ on its own to show the keytips, then E for the legacy Edit menu, S for Paste Special, C for Comments and Notes.

What Alt E S C does

Comments and Notes is one of the Paste Special options. On Windows, Alt E S C reaches it through the legacy Edit menu, which Excel has kept working from the keyboard ever since the ribbon replaced the menus — there is no Edit tab to click, the keys are the whole route. Excel for Mac has no Alt key and no keytips, so the sequence does nothing there without LightningXL.

Related shortcuts

The rest of the Paste Special menu in Excel:

• ⌥ESA All
• ⌥ESF Formulas
• ⌥ESV Values
• ⌥EST Formats
• ⌥ESN Validation
• ⌥ESH All using Source Theme
• ⌥ESX All except Borders
• ⌥ESW Column Widths