Excel Cell Formatting

Excel Cell Formatting

Apply professional Excel cell formatting with AI-powered automation. Style Excel cells with backgrounds, borders, alignment, number formats, and advanced cell properties.

Available Tools

  • cell_format - Excel cell formatting (background, borders, alignment, number format) through Excel MCP
  • cell_format_batch - Apply Excel cell formatting to multiple ranges in batch with AI automation

Single Cell Formatting

Basic Cell Styling

{
  "tool": "cell_format",
  "parameters": {
    "filepath": "reports/formatted-report.xlsx",
    "sheet_name": "Data",
    "range": "A1:F1",
    "background_color": "#4472C4",
    "horizontal_align": "center",
    "vertical_align": "middle",
    "border_style": "thick",
    "text_wrap": true
  }
}

Professional Header Formatting

{
  "tool": "cell_format",
  "parameters": {
    "filepath": "reports/sales-report.xlsx",
    "sheet_name": "Sales Data",
    "range": "A1:F1",
    "background_color": "#2E5984",
    "horizontal_align": "center",
    "vertical_align": "middle",
    "border_style": "thick",
    "border_color": "#000000",
    "text_wrap": true
  }
}

Number Formatting

{
  "tool": "cell_format",
  "parameters": {
    "filepath": "reports/financial.xlsx",
    "sheet_name": "Budget",
    "range": "C2:C10",
    "number_format": "$#,##0.00",
    "horizontal_align": "right"
  }
}

Batch Cell Formatting

Complete Report Styling

{
  "tool": "cell_format_batch",
  "parameters": {
    "filepath": "reports/financial-report.xlsx",
    "sheet_name": "Sheet1",
    "format_ranges": [
      {
        "range": "A1:F1",
        "background_color": "#2E5984",
        "horizontal_align": "center",
        "vertical_align": "middle",
        "border_style": "thick",
        "border_color": "#000000"
      },
      {
        "range": "B2:B4",
        "number_format": "$#,##0.00",
        "horizontal_align": "right"
      },
      {
        "range": "C2:C4",
        "number_format": "0",
        "horizontal_align": "center"
      },
      {
        "range": "D2:F5",
        "number_format": "$#,##0.00",
        "horizontal_align": "right"
      },
      {
        "range": "A5:F5",
        "border_style": "thick",
        "border_sides": ["top"]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Advanced Border Styles

{
  "tool": "cell_format_batch",
  "parameters": {
    "filepath": "reports/border-demo.xlsx",
    "sheet_name": "Sheet1",
    "format_ranges": [
      {
        "range": "A5:A7",
        "border_style": "thin",
        "border_color": "#000000",
        "border_sides": ["all"]
      },
      {
        "range": "B5:B7",
        "border_style": "medium",
        "border_color": "#FF0000",
        "border_sides": ["outline"]
      },
      {
        "range": "C5:C7",
        "border_style": "dashed",
        "border_color": "#0000FF",
        "border_sides": ["top", "bottom"]
      },
      {
        "range": "D5:D7",
        "border_style": "dotted",
        "border_color": "#00FF00",
        "border_sides": ["left", "right"]
      },
      {
        "range": "E5:E7",
        "border_style": "double",
        "border_color": "#FF00FF",
        "border_sides": ["all"]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Text Alignment Showcase

{
  "tool": "cell_format_batch",
  "parameters": {
    "filepath": "reports/alignment-demo.xlsx",
    "sheet_name": "Sheet1",
    "format_ranges": [
      {
        "range": "A10",
        "horizontal_align": "left",
        "vertical_align": "top",
        "background_color": "#FFE6E6"
      },
      {
        "range": "B10",
        "horizontal_align": "center",
        "vertical_align": "middle",
        "background_color": "#E6FFE6"
      },
      {
        "range": "C10",
        "horizontal_align": "right",
        "vertical_align": "bottom",
        "background_color": "#E6E6FF"
      },
      {
        "range": "D10",
        "horizontal_align": "justify",
        "vertical_align": "justify",
        "text_wrap": true,
        "background_color": "#FFFFE6"
      },
      {
        "range": "E10",
        "horizontal_align": "fill",
        "indent": 2,
        "background_color": "#FFE6FF"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Text Rotation Effects

{
  "tool": "cell_format_batch",
  "parameters": {
    "filepath": "reports/rotation-demo.xlsx",
    "sheet_name": "Sheet1",
    "format_ranges": [
      {
        "range": "D1",
        "text_rotation": 45,
        "horizontal_align": "center",
        "vertical_align": "middle"
      },
      {
        "range": "E1",
        "text_rotation": -45,
        "horizontal_align": "center",
        "vertical_align": "middle"
      },
      {
        "range": "F1",
        "text_rotation": 90,
        "horizontal_align": "center",
        "vertical_align": "middle"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Formatting Parameters Reference

Background Colors

  • "#FFFFFF" - White
  • "#4472C4" - Professional blue
  • "#E6F3FF" - Light blue
  • "#FFFF00" - Yellow
  • "#FFE6E6" - Light red
  • "#E6FFE6" - Light green
  • "#F0F8FF" - Alice blue

Horizontal Alignment

  • "left" - Left aligned
  • "center" - Center aligned
  • "right" - Right aligned
  • "justify" - Justified
  • "fill" - Fill the cell

Vertical Alignment

  • "top" - Top aligned
  • "middle" - Middle aligned
  • "bottom" - Bottom aligned
  • "justify" - Justified vertically

Border Styles

  • "none" - No border
  • "thin" - Thin line
  • "medium" - Medium line
  • "thick" - Thick line
  • "dashed" - Dashed line
  • "dotted" - Dotted line
  • "double" - Double line

Border Sides

  • ["all"] - All sides
  • ["top", "bottom"] - Top and bottom
  • ["left", "right"] - Left and right
  • ["outline"] - Outside borders only
  • ["inside"] - Inside borders only

Number Formats

  • "General" - Default format
  • "0" - Integer
  • "0.00" - Two decimal places
  • "0%" - Percentage
  • "$#,##0.00" - Currency with thousands separator
  • "yyyy-mm-dd" - Date format
  • "h:mm AM/PM" - Time format

Text Properties

  • text_wrap: true - Wrap text in cell
  • text_rotation: 45 - Rotate text (degrees)
  • indent: 2 - Indent text level
  • locked: true - Lock cell for protection
  • hidden: true - Hide cell formula

Advanced Formatting Examples

Financial Report Styling

{
  "tool": "cell_format_batch",
  "parameters": {
    "filepath": "reports/financial-complete.xlsx",
    "sheet_name": "Sheet1",
    "format_ranges": [
      {
        "range": "D2:D5",
        "background_color": "#F0F8FF"
      },
      {
        "range": "E2:E5",
        "background_color": "#FFF0F0"
      },
      {
        "range": "F2:F5",
        "background_color": "#F0FFF0",
        "border_style": "double",
        "border_sides": ["all"]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Data Validation Highlighting

{
  "tool": "cell_format_batch",
  "parameters": {
    "filepath": "reports/data-validation.xlsx",
    "sheet_name": "Data",
    "format_ranges": [
      {
        "range": "A2:A10",
        "background_color": "#90EE90"
      },
      {
        "range": "B2:B10",
        "background_color": "#FFB6C1"
      },
      {
        "range": "C2:C10",
        "background_color": "#87CEEB",
        "border_style": "thin",
        "border_sides": ["all"]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Protection Settings

{
  "tool": "cell_format",
  "parameters": {
    "filepath": "reports/protected.xlsx",
    "sheet_name": "Sheet1",
    "range": "B1:B5",
    "locked": false,
    "hidden": true
  }
}

Best Practices

  1. Color Harmony: Use complementary colors for professional appearance
  2. Contrast: Ensure text is readable against background colors
  3. Consistency: Apply consistent formatting across similar data
  4. Borders: Use borders to separate sections and highlight important data
  5. Number Formats: Apply appropriate number formats for data types

Common Use Cases

Report Headers

  • Dark background with white text
  • Center alignment
  • Thick borders
  • Text wrapping enabled

Financial Data

  • Currency formatting
  • Right alignment for numbers
  • Highlighting negative values
  • Thousands separators

Status Indicators

  • Color-coded backgrounds
  • Center alignment
  • Bold borders
  • Clear visual distinction

Data Tables

  • Alternating row colors
  • Consistent column widths
  • Appropriate number formats
  • Clear header styling

Error Handling

Invalid Color Code

{
  "tool": "cell_format",
  "parameters": {
    "filepath": "test.xlsx",
    "sheet_name": "Sheet1",
    "range": "A1",
    "background_color": "invalid-color"
  }
}

Result: Uses default background color

Invalid Number Format

{
  "tool": "cell_format",
  "parameters": {
    "filepath": "test.xlsx",
    "sheet_name": "Sheet1",
    "range": "A1",
    "number_format": "invalid-format"
  }
}

Result: Uses General format as fallback

Excel Font and Text Formatting Excel Row and Column Operations