Yes I did nothing on Day 5. Had my exams, it hit me with anxiety. So was studying late night.
Back to the point:
I added formula support to SpeakSheet today (my AI Excel generator).
Formulas generated perfectly. But when users opened the files, they saw 0 instead of calculated values.
Took me an hour to realize: The formulas WERE working. Excel was just hiding the results.
Here's what happened.
The Feature: AI-Generated Formulas
SpeakSheet now supports formulas in prompts.
User types:
Track employees: Name, Salary. Calculate average salary
AI generates:
- Excel file with Name and Salary columns
-
=AVERAGE(B2:B10)in cell B11 - Formula should display calculated average
The Bug Report
When opening the file the data has:
A4: Average:
B4: 0
Not the calculated value. Just: 0
My reaction: "That makes no sense. The formula is =AVERAGE(B2:B4). It should show 55000."
The Root Cause: Protected View Display Behavior
Excel's Protected View doesn't just disable editing. It also hides calculated formula values.
What's actually happening:
When file opens in Protected View:
Cell B4:
- Formula: =AVERAGE(B2:B4) ✅
- Calculated value: 55000 ✅
- Displayed value: 0 ❌
After clicking "Enable Editing":
Cell B4:
- Formula: =AVERAGE(B2:B4) ✅
- Calculated value: 55000 ✅
- Displayed value: 55000 ✅ The formula WAS calculating correctly. Excel just wasn't showing the result.
Why Excel Does This
Protected View is a security feature for files from "untrusted sources":
Email attachments
Downloads from internet
Programmatically-generated files
Security measures:
❌ Editing disabled
❌ Macros blocked
❌ External connections blocked
❌ Formula values hidden (shows 0 instead)
Why hide formula values?
Malicious files could use formulas to:
Display misleading information
Exploit calculation bugs
Trigger unintended behavior
By showing 0 instead of calculated values, Excel forces users to consciously "Enable Editing" before trusting the displayed data.
Reasonable security. Confusing UX.
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