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Format Cells

Description​

The Format Cells activity applies formatting to one or more cells within a worksheet.

Formatting can be applied to a single cell, a range of cells, or multiple cells and ranges specified using a comma-separated list.

Common Capabilities​

Process Data Support​

info

This activity supports dynamic configuration using variables from the Process Data drawer.

You can bind values from Model Data, Form Data, System Data, Enterprise Variables, and Activity Outputs.

Learn more → Using Process Data

Design-Time Configuration​

Workbook Configuration​

This activity requires an Excel workbook.

Learn more → Excel Workbook Configuration

Worksheet Selection​

This activity operates on a worksheet within the workbook.

Learn more → Excel Worksheet Selection

Worksheet Data Selection​

This activity targets specific cells within a worksheet.

Learn more → Worksheet Data Selection

Cells​

Cell address, range address, or comma-separated list of cell and range addresses to format.

Examples:

  • A1
  • A1:B10
  • A1,C5,D10
  • A1:B5,D10:F20

Font Settings​

Controls the appearance of text within the selected cells.

Available options include:

  • Font family
  • Font size
  • Font style
  • Bold
  • Italic
  • Underline
  • Font color
  • Strikethrough
  • Superscript
  • Subscript

Alignment Settings​

Controls how content is positioned within the selected cells.

Available options include:

  • Horizontal alignment
  • Vertical alignment
  • Indentation
  • Text rotation
  • Wrap text
  • Shrink to fit

Fill Settings​

Controls cell background formatting.

Available options include:

  • Fill color
  • Pattern type
  • Pattern color

Border Settings​

Controls cell border appearance.

Available options include:

  • Top border
  • Bottom border
  • Left border
  • Right border
  • Diagonal borders
  • Inside borders for ranges
  • Border line styles
  • Border colors

Formatting Behavior​

Most formatting properties support a Do not change option.

When selected, the corresponding formatting attribute remains unchanged.

This allows workflows to update only specific formatting properties while preserving existing cell formatting.

Linux Font Dependencies (Ubuntu)​

When workflows run on Linux, font-specific formatting depends on fonts installed on the execution host. If a configured font is unavailable, Linux applies a fallback font and the output may not match the expected style.

Use the following commands on Ubuntu to install common fonts required by spreadsheet templates:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y fontconfig fonts-dejavu fonts-liberation fonts-noto-core
sudo apt install -y ttf-mscorefonts-installer

Refresh the font cache after installation:

sudo fc-cache -f -v

Verify that required fonts are available:

fc-list | sort

To verify specific font families:

fc-list | rg -i "calibri|arial|times new roman|dejavu|liberation"

Troubleshooting​

  • If formatted output does not match expected results, verify that the configured font family is installed with the exact family name used in the workbook.
  • If the ttf-mscorefonts-installer package is unavailable, use equivalent open-source fonts such as Liberation fonts and align workbook templates accordingly.
  • If fonts were installed recently but are still not applied, re-run fc-cache -f -v and restart the workflow execution service.
  • In containerized deployments, fonts must be installed inside the container image. Installing fonts only on the host does not make them available within containers.

Outputs​

This activity does not produce any activity-specific outputs.

Wait All Incoming​

Execution Control

Controls how this activity behaves when multiple incoming execution paths converge.

Determines whether the activity executes when any incoming path completes, or only after all relevant paths have completed.

Learn more → Execution Control

On Error​

Error Handling Strategy

Defines how the workflow behaves if this activity encounters a runtime error.

Supported strategies include Fault, Continue, Suspend, and Retry.

Learn more → Error Handling