The prompt
Score 10 of 10, Excellent
Use it when You need to understand a colleague's workbook, its formulas and its flow before you change it.
- {{workbook_purpose}}
- {{app_and_version}}
- {{change_planned}}
- {{sheet_list}}
- {{formulas}}
- {{extras}}
Full prompt and why it works
Prompt
What the workbook is for, as far as I know: {{workbook_purpose}} App and version: {{app_and_version}} What I need to change or maintain: {{change_planned}} Sheets, in tab order, with their headers and what each seems to hold (include hidden sheets): """ {{sheet_list}} """ Key formulas, each with its sheet and cell, for example "Summary!C4: =SUMIFS(Data!F:F, Data!B:B, A4)": """ {{formulas}} """ Other things found (named ranges, links to other files, macros, pivot tables, data validation), or "not checked": """ {{extras}} """ Task: Explain how this workbook works. The goal is that I can maintain it and make the change I described without breaking anything. Write for someone comfortable with basic formulas but new to this file. Deliver: 1. If I wrote "not checked" above, start with short steps to find formulas, named ranges, links to other files and hidden sheets in {{app_and_version}}, because that is where inherited files usually surprise people. 2. The big picture in up to 5 sentences: what goes in, what it calculates, what comes out. 3. Flow: which sheets are inputs, which calculate and which are outputs, written as a simple chain such as "Data > Calc > Summary". 4. Sheet by sheet: a table with the columns Sheet, Role, Key cells, Feeds into, Fed by. 5. Formulas in plain English: each formula I gave, explained in one or two sentences, with any trap it contains. 6. Risks: numbers typed inside formulas, ranges that will not grow with new rows, references to missing sheets or files, formulas that change partway down a column, hidden content, and anything my planned change could break. 7. Safe change plan: the steps to make my change, and what to check afterward. 8. Questions for the previous owner, up to 5. Explain only what the material shows. If a formula refers to a sheet, name or file I have not described, say so and do not guess what it holds. Keep it under 700 words, and remind me to work on a copy of the file until the change is checked.
Variables
- {{workbook_purpose}}
- What the file is for, as far as you know, for example "monthly commission calculation".
- {{app_and_version}}
- For example "Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows" or "Google Sheets".
- {{change_planned}}
- What you need to change or keep running, for example "add a new region" or "just keep it working each month".
- {{sheet_list}}
- Each sheet's name, its column headers and what it seems to hold, including hidden sheets.
- {{formulas}}
- The key formulas copied with their sheet and cell. In Excel or Google Sheets, turn on Show formulas to see them all.
- {{extras}}
- Named ranges, links to other files, macros, pivot tables or data validation you found, or "not checked".
Why it works
- Background facts. Formulas with their cell addresses, named ranges, links to other files and hidden sheets are where inherited workbooks hide their logic, so the prompt asks for each by name.
- Format. A flow from inputs to calculations to outputs, then a sheet-by-sheet table, gives you a map before the detail.
- If unsure. References to sheets or files you have not described are reported as not visible instead of being guessed.