First check
When you get a spreadsheet, open and check the following:
Control + G to see if tables are marked up.
If not, go through every table, mark them up and give them table names.
To mark them up, highlight the table, control + T, OK, use Table design to remove colour and on Data tab remove filters.
To give a table a name, copy the page title, paste into Word, do Control + H and replace spaces with underscores, remove punctuation (colons, commas, brackets) and paste this into the Table Name field on the Table Design tab.
If there are any merged cells, remove them using strategies listed on the spreadsheets page.
As you go:
- left align the first column and any other non-numerical columns (dates, quarters, types of data etc) and right align all the other columns (and align the column headers accordingly)
- ensure large numbers have thousands comma
Redo control + G to check the tables are all marked up and named.
Note: I don't think pivot tables can be marked up.
Then -
Cosmetic changes
Every sheet must have a title in heading 1 in cell A1.
In cell A2 put the stock phrase 'This worksheet contains one table'.
Any other headings are heading 2 and create a space for them by dragging cell border lines down (and maybe bottom aligning the text).
Normal text is arial 12pt.
Remove all empty rows or columns.
Remove white background fill or boxes.
Apply GDS style, namely spell out acronyms on first appearance, spell out abbreviations, remove unnecessary bold. Italics can stay for species names.
Metadata
Check the metadata (File > Properties > Advanced Properties) that:
- the Title field has the correct and full title, in sentence case (no underscores)
- the Author field has UK Health Security Agency or UKHSA
- sometimes authors include Keywords for SEO, though these are optional
File name
File names must make sense when read out and not be a string of abbreviations and numbers. If it's a long document title use your initiative to sub-edit down to 60 characters or so.
Words in file names must be separated by hyphens - no space or underscore.
For full details search for 'File names' on Releasing statistics in spreadsheets.
Final review
Control + G again to double check all tables are marked up and named.
Use Control + your 'Page down' button to scroll through the spreadsheet checking that:
- the cursor is in cell A1 on every worksheet
- cell A2 reads 'This worksheet contains one table.' (ending in a full stop)
- there are no empty rows or columns
- the table is separated from the text above by dragging the cell border down a little (optional)
- column headers are in bold
- non-data columns are left aligned, data columns are all right aligned