KBA-01933: Special Defined Names for Excel Templates

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 bi-directional (VXL) 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.

Advanced Note: Many of these special names represent patterns: a fixed prefix or suffix combined with a sheet name, raw-table alias, or column name to form the actual defined name. See the Advanced section below.  All defined names that begin with To_ refer to the ToSpitfire sheet.

Special Defined Names:

Row & Column Range Control

• RawItems_ClearFrom
  Overrides the starting row for row-clearing on the RawItems sheet. The default is the sheet’s second row.
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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) should be used on new worksheets instead, as To_RowFlag is being phased out.
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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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• ToSpitfire_WriteValue
  Indicates (via a 1 or 0 in the cell) whether item values written to RawItems should be mirrored into the corresponding ToSpitfire columns. The default is 1 (mirroring is on). Setting the cell to 0 will leave the cells in the ToSpitfire columns entirely to the template’s own formulas.
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Raw Sheet Filter, Sort and Formatting

• 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.
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QAlias Query Tabs

These defined names apply to worksheets whose name start with “q” and which are registered as qAliases in the QueryConfig rule group.

• qp_{qAlias}_filter
  Applies the dataview filter expression entered in the defined cell before writing to the qAlias sheet.
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• qp_{qAlias}_sort
  Applies the sort expression entered in the defined cell, before writing to the qAlias sheet.  See KBA-01861.
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• {qAlias}_Headers
  Indicates (via a 1 or 0 in the cell) whether default headers should appear for columns in the qAlias result set. If 0 (zero), the template can use any user-supplied headers. Only the caption text and its styling are skipped; column placement, named ranges, and the position of which data begins are unchanged.
  Note: other sheet names (e.g., RawItems, RawAddr, etc. — see table below) can also be with _Headers.
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• {qAlias}_Target1…{qAlias}_Target9
  Indicates up to nine named ranges identifying other sheets/cells that should mirror this qAlias tab’s output.

Print Area

• ToSpitfire_AutoPrintArea
  Defines a print-area rectangle (e.g., A1:M) on the sheet that is automatically extended downward by the number of rows exported.
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• ToSpitfire_AutoPrintAreaPad
  Defines how many additional rows should be added to the bottom of the AutoPrintArea.  The ToSpitfire_AutoPrintArea defined name must also be used.
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Advanced

Lookup/Match Resolution

These defined names control how a text value in an import column is resolved to a Spitfire record when the underlying field is a GUID or Key.

• {TableName}_{ColumnName}_dv
  Tells the importer to read the “dv” (display value) of a mapped GUID’s column instead of the raw column, when a dv exists. This defined name is used for columns backed by a drop-down/display value rather than a raw GUID entry.
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• z{TableName}_{ColumnName}_Type
  Controls the match-type code used to resolve the text value used together with the XID setting below. This defined name applies to document header fields and (as zDocItem_{ColumnName_XID / Type) to item-level fields as well.
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• z{TableName}_{ColumnName}_XID
  Controls whether the match is by external ID (e.g., the default of “E”) or another identifier basis, for the named table/column.
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Reference tables

Raw sheet filter/sort/mirroring

Notes:

• Alias: DocInclusion, DocCompliance, DocMeetingAttendee, and DocDates drop the leading “Doc” (and “Meeting” for attendees) to form the sheet name and the _filter/_sort/_Target names together. DocItem came first so it keeps its full name instead — it’s zRawDocItem_filter, never zRawItem_filter.
• DocAddr has no _filter/_sort override at all. Its filter is fixed by the template type (AddrType = ‘T’ on the default template) and can’t be changed with a defined name.
• DocHeader (RawDocument) always contains exactly one row — the document header itself — so filter, sort, and mirroring don’t apply to it the way they do to the other raw sheets.
• qAlias tabs differ from the Doc-table rows in two ways: the filter/sort names use a qp_ prefix instead of zRaw, and their Target names have no “z” prefix (qCORLog_Target1, not zqCORLog_Target1) — unlike the raw sheets, whose Target names do carry the z (zRawCompliance_Target1).  qAlias must match a QueryConfig rule that defines the query.
• AutoPrintArea* (_AutoPrintArea and its companion _AutoPrintAreaPad) is named after whatever sheet is listed in the Mirrors to column — not the raw or qAlias sheet itself. For example, if DocInclusion’s zRawInclusion_Target1 points at a sheet named “COR Log”, the print-area name is ‘COR Log’_AutoPrintArea.
• To_ClearRowMode has no per-sheet equivalent anywhere in this table — it only ever applies to the RawItems/ToSpitfire pair.
• DocItem’s mirror to ToSpitfire isn’t actually fixed — ToSpitfire_WriteValue=0 turns it off. Item values still write to RawItems, but nothing is pushed into the ToSpitfire columns. Default is 1 (mirror on).

Row processing flags (import side)

Only DocItem and DocInclusion have import-side row flags; DocCompliance, DocDates, and DocMeetingAttendees are never imported.

KBA-01933; Last updated: September 11, 2026 at 8:03 am

Keywords: VXL, Via Excel, Bi-directional, defined names,