Question:
I understand that, aside from the defined names that appear on an Excel template’s default sheets, there are defined names that I could use in my template. What are those defined names and what do they mean?
Answer:
It is true that Excel templates meant for exporting and importing data within Spitfire contain many defined names across the ToSpitfire, FromSpitfire, RawDocument, RawItems, and RawAddr sheets, most of which are hidden by default. You can see all the defined names in Excel’s Name Manager, for example:
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However, you usually do not need to do anything with the default defined names. Instead, you might indeed want to click on a cell or column and define it with one of the following special defined names that have meaning for Spitfire.
Special Defined Names:
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To_AddMissingDefinedNames
Enables auto-creation of defined names for data columns not already mapped in the template, if a column has been given this defined name.
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To_ClearRowMode
Indicates how stale rows should be erased before writing. A value of ToEnd (the default) in the defined cell clears to the last used row. A value of ToRowLimit clears only to the setting on To_RowLimit.
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To_ColumnLimit
Indicates in the defined cell the right-most column on the target sheet.
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To_DeleteFlag
Indicates in the defined column whether each row has been flagged for deletion. An x or y in the cell triggers deletion.
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To_DocItem_DocItemKey
Contains in the defined column the formula used to determine whether each row should be processed during import. See KBA-01797.
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To_DoNotClearRows
Disables row-clearing entirely before writing new data.
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To_EditFlag
Indicates in the defined column whether each row has been flagged for editing.
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To_RowFlag
Indicates in the defined column whether each row should be processed during import; however, use of To_DocItem_DocItemKey (see above) is recommended instead.
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To_RowLimit
Indicates in the defined cell the maximum row number on the ToSpitfire sheet. Data writing stops at this row.
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To_RowLimitFormula
Indicates in the defined cell an override for To_RowLimit, applied only if the cell has a formula that calculates dynamic row limits.
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ToSpitfire_SheetName
Overrides the sheet name of ToSpitfire with whatever is entered in the defined cell.
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zRawDocItem_CopyDownFormat
Indicates in the defined cell if data should overwrite or preserve cell formatting when data is copied down a column. A value of 0 (the default) preserves cell formatting; a value of 1 overwrites the cell formatting.
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zRawDocItem_filter
Applies the dataview filter expression entered in the defined cell before writing to the raw sheet, for example “ItemStatus = ‘A'”.
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zRawDocItem_sort
Applies the sort expression entered in the defined cell, before writing to the raw sheet, for example “DocItemNumber” (which is the default). See KBA-01861.
KBA-01933; Last updated: June 9, 2026 at 12:34 pm