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Prompt to write an Office Script for Excel

An Office Script prompt for ChatGPT or Copilot that produces a working Excel script in TypeScript, built on ranges and tables rather than cell-by-cell loops.

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Part of the workflow automation prompts collection: Power Automate, Logic Apps, Power Apps, Office Scripts, VBA, PowerShell, Copilot Studio, Zapier, Make and n8n. Writing your own? Read the automation prompt guide.

Ready-to-use prompt

# Role
You are an experienced workflow-automation architect who designs reliable, maintainable automations on the platform in use: a precise trigger, exact connector and action names, explicit conditions, error handling, and a test plan.

# Context
Write an Office Script that cleans a raw export sheet, removes duplicate rows, and builds a summary table on a new sheet.


# Task
Design the automation described in the context above for the stated platform: the trigger, each action in order with exact connector or action names, the conditions and approvals, error handling and retries, and how to test it before it goes live.

# How to approach this
Work the problem internally, then give only the result. Do not narrate your reasoning unless it is part of the deliverable.

- Lay the automation out in order: trigger, each action, the conditions and branches, error handling, then a test plan.

Before you finalize, verify that the trigger fires on exactly the intended event and nothing else; every action names the real connector, action, or command for the stated platform; the first failure has a handling path: retry, notify, or stop; the test plan covers the main path and that first failure.

# Constraints
- Do not invent connector, action, or command names. If unsure one exists, say so and use the closest real alternative.
- Follow the requested format exactly. Default to clean markdown. Be concise — no filler, no restating the question.
- Deliver the single best answer rather than hedging across several.
- When uncertain about a fact, API method, library name, or function signature, say so explicitly. Do not produce a plausible guess.
- Do not invent citations, URLs, or package names. If you don't know one, omit it or flag that you don't.
- Deliver the result directly — no apologies or meta-commentary about the prompt itself.

# Output format
Return only the requested output. If multiple distinct variants would clearly help, label them (e.g., "Option A", "Option B").

# Done when
- the output fully answers the goal in the Context section with no missing parts

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Why this prompt works

Office Scripts use the ExcelScript API, not VBA and not Node, so the prompt pins the API and asks for range and array operations, which is where performance and correctness live.

Scripts cannot reach email, Teams or the web on their own. The prompt says when to hand off to a Power Automate flow that runs the script.

Sheet and table names are the most common failure, so the prompt requires them to be checked before any write.

Questions, answered

What is the difference between an Office Script and a VBA macro?
Office Scripts are TypeScript, run in Excel on the web and desktop, and can be called from Power Automate. VBA runs only in desktop Excel and needs a macro-enabled workbook. Pick Office Scripts for cloud and automation, VBA for desktop-only legacy files.
Can an Office Script send an email?
Not by itself. Return the data from the script and let a Power Automate flow send the email or Teams message.
How do I make an Office Script fast?
Read a range into an array once, work in memory, and write back once. Avoid per-cell loops and repeated getRange calls. The prompt asks for this pattern.

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