Office XLSX

Excel workbooks

Follow an explicit user or applicable AGENTS.md requirement for an environment or library. Otherwise call load_workspace_dependencies and run its Python executable with bundled openpyxl and pandas. Do not install packages or search for a system Python for the default workflow. If the tool is unavailable, use an already configured environment and report a missing dependency only when it prevents the requested operation.

Keep scripts, working files, and outputs in the task workspace. The runtime and skill directory are shared read-only resources. Save to a new workbook unless the user requests an in-place edit.

Read and modify

Use openpyxl for existing XLSX workbooks and targeted cell or style changes. Load with data_only=False when formulas must survive. Inspect sheet names, the affected cell types, formulas, styles, merged ranges, and referenced ranges before editing. Check the saved file by reopening it, including unchanged content that the request requires preserving.

Use pandas for data analysis and transformations. A DataFrame is not the workbook: exporting it over an existing file can lose sheets, formulas, charts, and formatting. Write analysis results back to the intended ranges with openpyxl. XlsxWriter can create new workbooks, but cannot read or modify existing ones.

For a new workbook, the selected Python environment can write editable values, styles, and formulas directly:

from openpyxl import Workbook
from openpyxl.styles import Font

workbook = Workbook()
sheet = workbook.active
sheet.title = "Revenue"
for row in [("Quarter", "Revenue"), ("Q1", 12), ("Q2", 18), ("Total", "=SUM(B2:B3)")]:
    sheet.append(row)
for cell in sheet[1]:
    cell.font = Font(bold=True)
sheet.column_dimensions["A"].width = 18
sheet.column_dimensions["B"].width = 18
workbook.save("report.xlsx")

Preserve numbers, dates, booleans, and identifiers as the intended cell types; formatting is not a type conversion. For modifications, load the existing file with openpyxl.load_workbook("input.xlsx", data_only=False), change the requested ranges, and save a separate result. Avoid a DataFrame round trip when workbook features must survive.

Writing a formula does not calculate its result. openpyxl and XlsxWriter do not evaluate Excel formulas; data_only=True returns stored cached values that may be absent or stale. Read the installed CLI paths and capabilities as described below. When it supports recalculate, use "<node>" "<cli>" recalculate --input report.xlsx --output recalculated.xlsx to save formulas and refreshed cached results to a new workbook. Reopen that result with both data_only=False and data_only=True to check formulas and calculated values against the requested logic. Recalculation does not validate business logic or guarantee Excel-specific feature compatibility. Without a recalculation engine, state the limit; do not replace requested formulas with constants or report old cached values as newly calculated results.

Do not rename .xls, .xlsb, encrypted files, or macro-enabled files to .xlsx. They need an appropriate supported operation. keep_vba=True can preserve VBA package content in an XLSM workflow, but does not execute or edit macros and does not guarantee every advanced workbook feature survives. Preserve the original and verify such requirements explicitly.

Check and deliver

Run the shared checker with the selected Python executable; <skill-directory> is this loaded skill's resource base:

<python> <skill-directory>/../scripts/check_office.py <workbook.xlsx> --out <checks.json>

It checks ZIP/XML integrity and internal relationships, and reports sheet names, populated-cell counts, and formula counts. Repeated --contains TEXT arguments check string cells and sheet names, and --count N checks sheet count. --contains excludes numeric cells and does not validate formula results; verify those separately with openpyxl. The checker does not calculate formulas or judge workbook appearance. Compare relevant values, types, formulas, styles, and totals with the task's source data.

For data and formula tasks, deliver after structural and data checks pass. Skip preview rendering and visual inspection, and do not add an unrequested caveat that visual inspection was omitted. Basic styling such as bold headers or number formats does not itself require visual inspection. Formula recalculation is independent of rendering and remains necessary when calculated results must be refreshed.

Inspect relevant regions when the task concerns formatting, layout, chart appearance, print layout, or a known display problem. Before generating inspection images, establish that the current model accepts images. If it does not, finish structural and data checks and report the requested visual check as unavailable; do not rasterize unreadable previews, retry read_image, or choose a second model. Export requested images or PDFs even when visual inspection is unnecessary.

A successful command or image read does not prove that a preview contains workbook content. For a populated range, a fully transparent or uniformly blank image is a renderer failure, not evidence that the workbook needs fixing. Stop all visual QA for that workbook immediately; do not try a wider range, another sheet, a different DPI, or another output format. Check suspicious previews with the bundled Pillow library, compositing RGBA onto white before comparing pixels. Do not create diagnostic workbooks, repeatedly retry rendering, modify print settings, or convert to PDF solely to investigate a failed preview. Preserve the requested workbook changes, finish structural and data checks, and report the visual check as unavailable. Only change print areas or scaling when the user requests printed layout.