Excel that explains itself

Build-along · ~10 min at your own keyboard

Claude Code can read a workbook in your folder without exporting or copy-paste. Reading isn't understanding, though. Workbooks hide traps: several sheets, hidden rows or columns, formulas whose saved values are stale, dates stored as text, mixed units, totals rows that get counted twice. So start with an inspection pass, make it cite cells for every finding, and check every finding you'd act on — not just one.

The long version: Excel with Claude ↗

Do this

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Checkpoints

▸You should now see your workbook in the working folder.
▸You should now see an inspection summary listing sheets, hidden rows, formulas, and formats.
▸You should now see three findings, each with sheet and cell references.
▸You should now see a reconciled total and each actionable finding checked.

The three ways this goes wrong

Claude says it cannot open the file. — Check it is an xlsx or csv in the folder you started in, and not open in another program.
The summary is generic. — Say what the sheets are for. Name the columns you care about most.
A number in the summary does not match the cells. — Ask Claude to show the cells it used. Trust the cells, then correct the summary.

Share what happened

Paste the inspection summary (with anything you corrected), the three findings with their cell references, the total reconciliation, and your check of each finding you'd act on.

Strip API keys, passwords, and tokens before you paste. Swap them for [KEY].

🔒 Don't paste confidential, personal-health, or payment info.