Spreadsheet transfer

How it works

Workbooks are small until they embed images or pivot caches. CSV exports drop formulas and keep values. Say which. A binary copy does not refresh external links. The recipient's refresh can change numbers after a perfect transfer. Hash the file. Also state whether values are frozen.

Finance sends a 12 MB model by mail. It arrives. The client refreshes a data connection and the totals move. They accuse the sender of a bad file. The hash matches the sent workbook. The change happened on open. A CSV of values, or a workbook with links broken on purpose, is the delivery if the numbers must stay.

How it differs

A spreadsheet transfer is not a database sync. One workbook is a file. A feed on SFTP every night is automation.

Password-protected sheets block virus scanners and some portal previewers. Expect a download-only path.

CSV encoding fights are common. UTF-8 with a BOM survives Excel. Bare UTF-8 often does not. State the encoding.

On the ticket

• The practical close is a log line: time, actor, byte count, result.
• Without that line the transfer is a story.
• With it, the next person can see whether this door did what the ticket claimed.
• If the path is shared, say so in the partner profile so a later change does not silently pick a different limit, key, or region.
• Count the finished object, not the first byte, before you close the ticket.