Use Excel Tables as Automation Contracts

The automation move: Structured tables make formulas, queries, and references survive changing row counts. Why it works Microsoft describes Excel Tables as a way to manage and analyze related data with header rows, calculated columns, filtering, total rows, and structured references. For automation, the important idea is the contract: a table has a name, fields, and expansion behavior. A range is just coordinates; a table is a data object. That matters because recurring workbooks rarely keep the same row count. Structured references let formulas point to Orders[Revenue] instead of $G$2:$G$801. Calculated columns apply formulas consistently. Queries and pivots can connect…

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