Key-cell formats and what a job keeps#
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When a job refreshes a list or crosstab inside a workbook, it has to draw new values in the formats you chose, even when the report grows or shrinks. Reportworq does this with key cells: one cell per kind of cell in the report (a heading, a value, a subtotal, a total) that holds the format for every cell like it. This page explains where key cells live, which formats a job keeps, and the one thing you must not do in a report's area.
Why it matters. An analyst formats the Revenue column of a list as 0.0% in Excel and saves the workbook. A converted job must then send percentages with one decimal, not the default number format. Key cells are how that choice survives each run.
Where the key cells are#
Under every list or crosstab, Reportworq keeps a few hidden rows called the format range. The format range holds the report's caption and one key cell for each kind of cell the report draws. When you format a report cell in Excel, Reportworq captures the format and applies it to the matching key cell, and to every cell like it. A key cell holds a placeholder or nothing, never the report's value.
In the Excel add-in, the format range is hidden by design. To see it, select Show format range in the report's View group; Hide format range puts it away again. Rows with no formats yet go out blank and hidden.
Which workbooks a job reads formats from#
| Workbook | Where the formats are | What the job does |
|---|---|---|
| Made by Convert to Excel, Export as Excel or Download, Excel, connected from the web report | In the report's stored definition | Draws the refreshed report in those formats. The format rows are blank and hidden. |
| Saved from the Excel add-in's pane, after you formatted key cells in Excel | In the key cells of the hidden format rows | Reads each key cell's Excel format and draws the refreshed report with it. A format you set in Excel is kept on the first run and on every later run. |
So a job over a workbook the pane saved keeps the number formats, fonts, fills and borders you gave the key cells, such as 0.0% on a value or a fill and bold on a column heading.
Number formats the report cannot carry#
The report engine carries the common number formats. A few Excel number formats are not carried, for example Accounting, #,##0.0, 0.0 and #,##0;(#,##0). For a key cell that uses one, the job keeps the rest of your look (font, fill, borders, alignment) and uses the key's default number format. A value's default is #,##0, or the data model field's own format.
What else a job keeps#
- Your own formulas, names, merged areas, charts and conditional formats around a report move as Excel moves them when the report adds or gives back rows or columns.
- A column you hid stays hidden. A report's columns only widen to fit.
- Maps, AI insights and professional reports go out as last saved, where a job does not redraw them. The job freezes a professional report's cells to the values saved with them.
- The report definitions and the format rows' placeholders are removed from the output, so recipients see a clean workbook.
What makes a run fail instead#
A job never overwrites your content to draw a report. If your content is in the report's area, the run fails with a message and sends nothing.
| Message | Cause and fix |
|---|---|
<cell> is in rows <first>-<last>, which “<report>” keeps for its formats (hidden), so a refresh would overwrite it. Nothing was distributed. Move it below row <last>, then run the job again. |
You typed something into the hidden format rows under a report. Move it below the report. |
| A message naming a cell a growing report "would write over" | The report would grow into your cells. Move your content, or set the report's When the report grows option to Overwrite in the editor, which lets the report take the cells. |
“<report>” has grown larger than a job can refresh in place (it must end by row 1,048,576 and column XFD). Nothing was distributed. |
The report would pass Excel's last row or column. Reduce what it reads. |
| An insert or delete "would cut through a merged area" | A merged area is in the way of the rows a report adds or gives back. Unmerge or move it. |
Only a report set to When the report grows: Overwrite may take cells that are not its own.
Notes and limits#
- The storage names inside a converted workbook are a stable format. Do not edit a report's hidden definitions by hand: a job reports a damaged definition as one that "can't be read" and fails, instead of guessing.
- Copying a report's sheet inside the workbook is supported. A sheet copied in from another workbook is rebuilt only when its stored kit is intact. Otherwise it goes out as saved values and the run log says so.
Going deeper. For converting, see Convert a web report to Excel. For the pane itself, see Excel: the analyst pane.
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