Act Office Native Authoring

Office Native Authoring

Use this skill when the user needs a polished Word document, PowerPoint presentation, or Excel workbook built from approved Markdown, notes, data, or other source material, especially when direct Markdown conversion would be technically correct but visually generic.

Outcome

Use available Scout Co-create Office capabilities to author a native Office artifact from scratch. Treat source material as a semantic content model, not as a file to convert. Preserve the source unless the user explicitly asks to edit it.

1. Read the complete approved source. Identify its hierarchy, facts, tables, lists, citations, calculations, decisions, audience, and deliberate section boundaries.
2. Select the format that fits the requested outcome: .docx for structured narrative content, .pptx for a concise presentation narrative, or .xlsx for a data, calculation, planning, or tracking model. Ask only when the outcome does not establish a suitable format.
3. Create a compact content model before authoring. Preserve source meaning while adapting it to native Office conventions; never map Markdown syntax directly to Office elements.
4. Use the host's native Office artifact-creation capability. Specify the format, audience, source-derived content and structure, visual intent, tables, calculations, charts, citations, and quality constraints. Do not invent source facts, metadata, labels, or identifiers.
5. For a requested change to a cloud artifact reachable through the active host, use its native artifact-editing capability rather than recreating the file.
6. If the required native Office capability is unavailable, explain the limitation. Use a local format-specific workflow only when the user explicitly requests a local or offline deliverable.

Format-specific Design

Word

Use a clear document hierarchy with a title block, headings, concise paragraphs, readable lists, well-proportioned tables, limited callouts, and unobtrusive headers and footers. Preserve citations and intentional page boundaries without introducing arbitrary decoration.

PowerPoint

Create a focused slide narrative, not a document split across slides. Use concise titles and native diagrams, charts, images, tables, or speaker notes when they clarify the message. Give every slide a clear purpose and avoid dense text-only layouts.

Excel

Create a usable workbook with meaningful sheet names, structured tables, correct data types and number formats, formulas for recalculable results, data validation where needed, and charts only when they support a decision. Do not hardcode results that should be formulas.

Completion Standard

Deliver a native Office artifact whose information hierarchy, content accuracy, and visual design serve the intended audience. State that it was authored natively from the approved source, rather than converted from Markdown, when that distinction matters.