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 the 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

Color Harmony – Use complementary colors for a professional appearance
Contrast – Ensure text is readable against background colors
Consistency – Apply consistent formatting across similar data
Borders – Use borders to separate sections and highlight important data
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