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Excel and PDF export

Strata generates fully-styled Excel workbooks, PDF reports, PowerPoint decks, Word documents, and Markdown files on demand. This page covers the most common formats — Excel and PDF — and how to push them to OneDrive or email them out.

Requesting an export

Use natural language. Any of these work:

  • "Export this to Excel."
  • "Give me a PDF report."
  • "Download this as a spreadsheet."
  • "Build a one-pager PDF of the last quarter."
  • "Make a slide deck of these findings." (PowerPoint)
  • "Write this up as a Word memo." (DOCX)

Strata loads the matching skill, then generates the file server-side and returns a download card in the chat.

Excel exports

Downloading

When Strata produces an Excel file, a card appears in the chat with a download button. Click it to save the file locally.

What's in a styled workbook

Strata's Excel engine produces institution-grade output, not raw rows. Depending on what you ask for, your workbook can include:

  • Styled headers with bold and accent fill.
  • Per-column number formats — accounting, currency, percentages, millions, parentheses for negatives.
  • Auto-sized columns based on header and content length.
  • Frozen panes on the header row (or both row and column) so headers stay visible while you scroll.
  • AutoFilter dropdowns on header cells.
  • Conditional formatting — color scales, data bars, top/bottom highlights.
  • Data validation dropdowns built from a column's distinct values or a named list.
  • Formula totals — SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, MIN, MAX rows under the data.
  • Defined names for ranges so the workbook is usable by analysts.
  • Native Excel charts drawn alongside the data — bar, column, line, pie, combo, stacked.
  • Multiple sheets for breakdowns or supporting tables.

The same styled workbook is produced whether you download it from chat, save it to OneDrive, or attach it to an outgoing email — Strata builds one file and reuses it.

Reusing the same file across destinations

When you ask Strata to "Export this to Excel and save it to my OneDrive" or "email me this workbook", Strata generates the styled file once and reuses it as both the OneDrive upload and the email attachment. Without this reuse, you would get an unstyled fallback. You do not need to do anything for this to work — Strata handles it.

PDF exports

Strata generates polished PDF reports server-side. A typical report contains:

  • A title page or section header with the report title and subtitle.
  • Executive summary or narrative sections.
  • Tables of detail data.
  • Charts.
  • Callout boxes for important findings.

To request a PDF:

  • "Make this a PDF."
  • "Write a one-page PDF report of Q1 vs Q2."

The result appears as a download card in the chat.

PowerPoint, Word, and Markdown

Strata also produces:

  • PowerPoint (.pptx) — slide decks with titles, bullets, charts, and images.
  • Word (.docx) — formatted memos, proposals, and longer narrative documents.
  • Markdown (.md) — plain-text documentation, runbooks, and notes.

Ask for the format you want — "as a deck", "as a Word memo", "as a markdown file" — and the right skill is loaded and the right file is produced.

Iterating on a generated file

After Strata produces a file, you can ask for targeted changes without regenerating from scratch:

  • "Add a column for last year's revenue."
  • "Reformat the totals as accounting style."
  • "Move the chart to its own sheet."
  • "Update slide 3 to use bullet points instead."

Strata uses dedicated update tools that surgically modify the file, returning a new version download card.

Saving to OneDrive

If OneDrive is connected in Settings, ask: "Save it to my OneDrive" or "Save to my OneDrive in the Reports folder." Strata uploads the same styled file. See /docs/integrations/onedrive.

Attaching to email

If Outlook is connected, ask: "Email this report to alice@example.com." Strata drafts an email with the file already attached. You can review the draft, change the body, then click Send. See /docs/integrations/outlook.

What can go wrong

  • "Generation failed" or a partial workbook. Strata logs a corrupted-OOXML error if a generated sheet has an invalid structure. Re-ask the question; if it happens twice, simplify the request (fewer columns, fewer formulas) and report the case to your admin.
  • Download card never appears. The model may not have invoked the generation tool. Be explicit: "Use the Excel export tool to give me this as an .xlsx."
  • Saved-to-OneDrive file looks unstyled. This happens only if Strata sent the file to OneDrive without first generating it through the styled engine. Ask Strata to "regenerate the styled Excel and save the same file to OneDrive."
  • A wide table looks cramped or clipped in the PDF. Reports are laid out on portrait pages, so a table with many columns can feel tight. Ask Strata to "drop the less important columns," "break the table into two sections," or "put the full detail in an Excel file instead."

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