Document Processing SDKs

Annotate XLSX Spreadsheets with Java

Add and manage annotations in Excel XLSX files programmatically — no Microsoft Office required.

How to Annotate an XLSX in Java

GroupDocs.Annotation for Java makes it easy to annotate XLSX spreadsheets:

  1. Open the XLSX with an Annotator instance.
  2. Create and configure the annotation you need.
  3. Add the annotation to the spreadsheet.
  4. Save the annotated XLSX.
// Annotate an XLSX spreadsheet

// Open the XLSX with an Annotator instance
Annotator annotator = new Annotator("input.xlsx");
try {
    // Create an area annotation
    AreaAnnotation area = new AreaAnnotation();
    area.setBox(new Rectangle(100, 100, 200, 80));
    area.setBackgroundColor(65535);
    area.setPageNumber(0);
    area.setMessage("Important");

    // Add the annotation
    annotator.add(area);

    // Save the annotated XLSX
    annotator.save("annotated.xlsx");
} finally {
    annotator.dispose();
}
implementation 'com.groupdocs:groupdocs-annotation:25.6.0'
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Full Control Over XLSX Annotations

Add every annotation type to Excel spreadsheets and manage them with a simple API.

Annotate XLSX spreadsheets

Text Markup

Highlight, underline, strike out, or replace text in XLSX files.

Shapes & Watermarks

Draw shapes and stamp watermarks or images onto XLSX worksheets.

Manage Annotations

Get, remove, import, and export XLSX annotations.

Read XLSX Annotations

Retrieve the annotations stored in an annotated XLSX spreadsheet:

Java

//  Open the annotated XLSX
Annotator annotator = new Annotator("annotated.xlsx");
try {
    // Get all annotations
    List<AnnotationBase> annotations = annotator.get();

    // Inspect each annotation
    for (AnnotationBase annotation : annotations) {
        System.out.println(annotation.getMessage());
    }

    // Save the spreadsheet
    annotator.save("output.xlsx");
} finally {
    annotator.dispose();
}
implementation 'com.groupdocs:groupdocs-annotation:25.6.0'
click to copy
copied
More examples Documentation

Annotate XLSX Files

GroupDocs.Annotation for Java lets you add, edit, and remove annotations in Excel XLSX spreadsheets. Highlight cells, draw shapes, stamp watermarks and images, and attach threaded comments — then save the result back to XLSX.
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Useful resources

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Annotate Other File Formats

GroupDocs.Annotation for Java supports annotating documents across many file formats:

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