Excel Style

[ YOUR NAME ]'s Excel Style

Defines HOW spreadsheets for [ YOUR NAME ] must look and behave. Layers on top of the public xlsx skill (/mnt/skills/public/xlsx/SKILL.md) — read that too for the openpyxl/recalc workflow. Where they conflict on style, THIS skill wins. Aim for [ YOUR DESIRED FEEL — e.g. refined and substantial: classy, not corporate-bland, never sparse ].

Priorities (in order)

1. Working formulas, never hardcoded results. Every KPI, total, delta, and table value is an Excel formula (SUMIFS/COUNTIFS) pulling from the Data tab. The workbook recalculates when data or filters change.
2. Clear structure & navigation. Multi-tab, predictable layout, frozen panes.
3. Bold, refined visual design. Monochromatic accent system, layered details (banner, cards, banded rows, data bars).
4. Charts that add insight — at least two on a dashboard, never filler.

Reorder these priorities if your context demands it — e.g. [ OPTIONAL: a finance team might rank formula integrity and auditability above visual polish; a sales team might rank charts higher ].

Workbook structure (always multi-tab)

• Dashboard — first tab, active on open. All summary views.
• Data — flat table, header row 1, one record per row. Include helper columns (Year, Month as text) that make SUMIFS clean.
• Settings — dropdown source lists, named parameters, chart helper tables (formula-driven, accent-headed), prior-period helper cells, accent hex reference. Hidden gridlines.
• NO instructions/legend tabs or explanatory text blocks. If a cell needs explanation, use a cell comment.
• [ OPTIONAL: any extra tabs your work always needs — e.g. a "Raw Import" tab, a "Forecast" tab, an "Archive" tab. ]

Color system: one accent family per project

Pick ONE family matching the topic; use three shades plus support tones:

Reference palettes (replace with your own brand families if you have them — [ OPTIONAL: add your brand hex codes here, e.g. "House Blue 0B3D91/3D6FD1/D6E2F7" ]): Teal 1D6F5E/4DA28E/CFE8E1 · Navy 1F3A5F/4A6FA5/D9E2EF · Burgundy 6B1F2E/A04958/F0DCE0 · Forest 2D5A27/5E8C58/DDEAD9 · Plum 4A2E5C/7B5E8E/E5DCEC · Amber 9A6A00/C99A2E/F4E8CC.

Default family when the topic gives no obvious cue: [ YOUR DEFAULT — e.g. Navy ].

Green 1F8A3B / red C0392B (and Excel's Color10/Red in number formats) are reserved for positive/negative deltas regardless of accent. White background, gridlines hidden on every sheet, zoomScale = 90 on the Dashboard.

Dashboard layout (top to bottom)

1. Banner — rows 1-3 filled dark accent across the full grid width. Title in white bold 20pt, one-line subtitle beneath in light accent 10pt (e.g. "[ YOUR TYPICAL SUBTITLE — e.g. Revenue · Deals · Pipeline ]"). Narrow spacer column A (width 2).
2. Filter row — tiny bold-caps labels (8pt) above data-validation dropdowns styled as light-accent cells with thin dark borders, centered bold text. Sources on Settings. Where it makes sense, include an "All" option: prepend "All" to the list and build criteria as IF($D$6="All","*",$D$6) inside SUMIFS (works for text columns).
3. KPI cards ([ HOW MANY YOU USUALLY WANT — e.g. 4-6 ]) — light cards, NOT solid dark blocks. Anatomy per card (2 merged columns wide, spacer column between cards):
   • top strip: 4.5pt-high row filled mid accent
   • label row: bold 8pt grey-blue caps, centered
   • value row (height 30): bold 21pt dark accent, centered — always a formula
   • delta sub-line: bold 9pt, the vs-prior-period delta with the arrow number format below, or a context stat (e.g. #,##0 "open")
   • thin C9D3E0 perimeter border, F7F9FC body fill
   • [ OPTIONAL: KPIs you almost always want on top — e.g. "always include a total-revenue card and a win-rate card first" ]
4. Section headers — bold 11pt dark-accent caps text (e.g. "[ YOUR SECTION NAMES — e.g. PERFORMANCE BREAKDOWN, TRENDS ]") with a medium mid-accent bottom border spanning the content width. One before tables, one before charts.
5. Comparison tables side by side (see conventions).
6. Charts — two side by side: a combo column+line for the time trend (primary metric bars in dark, count/rate line in mid on a secondary axis with crosses="max"), and a horizontal bar for a categorical breakdown in mid accent. Chart source ranges are formula helper tables on Settings that respect the dashboard filters.

Freeze panes so banner + filters + KPI cards stay visible (e.g. freeze_panes = "A13").

Table conventions

• Header row: dark accent fill, white bold 10pt; first column left-aligned, numbers right-aligned.
• Columns: <Dimension> | [ CURRENT PERIOD LABEL — e.g. Sel Yr ] | [ PRIOR PERIOD LABEL — e.g. Prior Yr ] | [ DELTA LABEL — e.g. vs PY ] (adapt period labels to context).
• Delta number format (no CF rules needed): [Color10]0.0%"▲";[Red](0.0%)"▼"
• Banded rows: alternate EFF3F9 fill on data rows.
• Data bars: DataBarRule(start_type="num", start_value=0, end_type="max", color=MID) on the current-period column.
• Totals row: bold, thin dark top border + double dark bottom border, SUM formulas.
• First (label) column wider (~14.5) so nothing truncates; verify no #### overflow anywhere.
• Numbers: #,##0;(#,##0); percentages 0.0%; negatives in parentheses, never minus signs; years as text.
• [ OPTIONAL: your unit/format conventions — e.g. currency symbol, thousands vs millions scaling, decimal places, date format ]

Data tab styling

• Dark accent header row, frozen; banded rows; amount columns in money format.
• Status-like columns get colored bold text per value (e.g. [ YOUR STATUS VALUES + COLORS — e.g. green 1F8A3B for Won/Done, amber 9A6A00 for Pipeline/Open ]).

Formula rules

• Dashboard values aggregate from Data via SUMIFS/COUNTIFS keyed on the filter cells; prior period derived in a Settings helper cell (e.g. =TEXT(VALUE(Dashboard!$B$6)-1,"0")).
• Wrap any ratio in IFERROR(...,0) — prior periods can be zero.
• Parameters ([ YOUR RECURRING PARAMETERS — e.g. targets, commission rates, tax rate ]) in named Settings cells, referenced, never inlined.
• After saving, ALWAYS run the xlsx skill's recalc script and fix every error. Zero #REF!/#DIV/0!/#VALUE!.
• Then render a visual check: convert to PDF with soffice --headless --convert-to pdf and pdftoppm, view the image, and fix truncated labels, overlapping axes, or layout collisions before delivering.

Pet-peeve checklist (verify before delivering)

• No hardcoded calculated values — spot-check KPI cards and totals with data_only load
• Gridlines hidden on all sheets; zoom 90 on Dashboard
• Single accent family + green/red deltas only — no rainbow
• No instructions/legend/notes sheets
• Dashboard is first and active tab; filters actually change the numbers
• Recalc ran clean; visual render checked
• No truncated labels or #### overflow
• [ ADD YOUR OWN PET PEEVES — e.g. "company logo in banner top-right", "fiscal year starts in April, not January", "no comma-separated cents" ]