Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Spring 2016
Alphatag® software may not be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any
electronic medium or machine-readable form, in whole or in part, without the express written
permission of:
Tax Computer Systems Limited
Centurion House
London Road
Staines TW18 4AX
Tel: +44 (0) 1784 410369
Fax: +44 (0) 1784 410335
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.taxcomputersystems.com
Spring 2016
Copyright  2010–2016 Tax Computer Systems Limited
All rights reserved.
Contents
Introduction ..............................................................................................................5
Checklist ..............................................................................................................6
Alphatag formatting ............................................................................................7
Other points .........................................................................................................7
Preparing documents for the conversion process .....................................................9
Document configuration items ............................................................................9
Number and date formats ..................................................................................10
Formatting paragraphs .......................................................................................12
Heading styles ...................................................................................................13
Headings used with tables .................................................................................15
Table layouts .....................................................................................................18
Using bullets ......................................................................................................27
Word documents ....................................................................................................30
Referring to page numbers ................................................................................30
Nested tables......................................................................................................30
Data tables .........................................................................................................32
Embedding Excel documents in Word ..............................................................38
Lost underscores in padding rows .....................................................................43
Split tables causing automated tagging failure ..................................................44
Excel documents ....................................................................................................47
Workbook page layout ......................................................................................47
Paragraphs of text in Excel ................................................................................49
Line items across multiple columns ..................................................................50
Textboxes ..........................................................................................................51
Appendix A Configuration settings .......................................................................53
Word ..................................................................................................................53
Excel ..................................................................................................................58
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
3
Contents
4
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Introduction
This document is designed to help users format their Microsoft Word or Microsoft
Excel-based financial statement documents in the optimal way for the Alphatag
conversion process.
We have tested numerous sets of financial statement documents in order to make
this document as comprehensive as possible, however we are under no illusion
that this is an exhaustive list. The formatting possibilities within Word and Excel
are enormous so as a result if you believe that we have missed anything, or if we
have not incorporated your scenario, please let us know at
[email protected].
A checklist of the main issues is given below. For further details, go to:

Chapter 2 which outlines the main steps you need to carry out before a file
will be ready for the Alphatag conversion process.

Chapters 3 and 4 which outline specific formatting issues to be taken into
account with Word and Excel documents respectively.

Appendix A which recommends a number of Word and Excel configuration
settings that will make accounts preparation easier.
Note. Alphatag supports documents created in Office 2007 and Office 2010.
Screenshots in this document are taken using Office 2010.
Note. This document uses colour to help differentiate good and bad practices. We
recommend that you view the document online or use a colour printer.
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
5
Introduction
Checklist
6

Ensure that formatting is visible by clicking the
icon in the tool bar. When
formatting is visible, you can see paragraph signs, spaces between words, tab
signs etc. See page 53.

Ensure that all Word tables are displayed with gridlines via the Table Show
gridlines command. See page 54.

Ensure that the mandatory tag items exist within the document prior to starting
to tag. See page 9.

To position text within a paragraph use the paragraph alignment options in
Word. See page 12

Use a consistent date format throughout the document. See page 10.

Ensure that headings (including those for Notes to the accounts) use a valid
format. See page 13.

A single table of data should consist of the line items, column headers and cell
data. See page 18.

Ensure that table titles (e.g. Profit and loss account) are placed above the table;
otherwise that section may not be picked up by the Alphatag automatic
process. See page 15.

Ensure that column headings are restated on consecutive tables. Not doing this
can cause adverse problems with the automated process. See page 22.

Switch off the Office Clipboard to speed up processing. See page 57.

When using bullets or numbering ensure only one level is used.

Save the document into doc/docx or xls/xlsx format before importing to
Alphatag. Alphatag cannot accept rtf or xml documents although you can open
such documents in Word or Excel and then save them in the appropriate
format.

Do not place Note columns at the left-hand side of tables. Alphatag requires
this to be for narratives only. See page 19.

Ensure your line items are within a single cell and not spread across multiple
cells, this may require the height of a row to be modified. See page 23.

Do not use more than one row as a separator within a table. Instead it is better
to expand the height of one row. See page 24.

Do not use nested tables. These are not supported and may cause problems
with the automatic process. See page 30.

Do not use multiple values in a single cell. These will cause the automatic
process to skip the values in question. Use one cell for one value. See page 26.

When creating underlines using characters (e.g. when using = or – symbols),
don’t change the font to something smaller than your normal font.
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Introduction

Ensure that all pages in the accounts have the same orientation throughout.
HTML files cannot have a mixture of portrait and landscape pages.
Alphatag formatting
Formatting in Word documents is stripped down to the bare minimum:

Mid-sentence formatting is removed (e.g. some words in bold and/or italic).
Formatting is applied based on the first few characters.

Paragraph and table borders are removed. Only cell borders are retained where
these exist.

Text and line colours are removed.

Background images/watermarks/colours are removed.

Hyperlinks are removed.

Pictures and logos are removed. HMRC have stipulated they cannot receive a
document above a certain size and that this same document cannot have
attached items including images.

Footers from the Word document are not used in the HTML file (Word
Headers are however used).

Headers and Footers from Excel are not used.
Other points

What appears to be well formatted to the human eye may actually be complex
due to hidden objects or formatting which is not visible to the human eye.

If you are having problems converting a particular table or paragraph, try
selecting it then using the Clear Formatting option. Then reapply formatting
sparingly to paragraphs/cells. See page 55.
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
7
Introduction
Off-screen display

8
If part of the text or table appears to be off the page in the Alphatag document
window, it will still be tagged correctly and will appear correctly in HTML.
Within Alphatag, use the scroll bar to scroll across the document.
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Preparing documents for the conversion
process
This chapter outlines the steps you should take to prepare your document before
the Alphatag conversion process.
Document configuration items
The following items must be tagged for successful submission to HMRC and
therefore must be included in the document prior to conversion:

Registration number. This will normally be the Companies House registration
number. For foreign companies, use the appropriate registration number (you
will need to select the registrar within Alphatag). In rare cases, where
Alphatag does not recognise the registrar or the registration number is
unavailable, you should enter the UTR for the company. In this case, you must
select the registrar as Other in Alphatag.

Company name

Accounting period
Statutory accounts need;

Names of directors signing report

Date of signing the report. This date must be in a separate cell or line than the
Date of signing the accounts.

Name of director signing accounts

Date of approval of accounts. This date must be in a separate cell or line than
the Date of signing the report.
Note. If the company does not disclose a Directors’ report as part of its financial
statements (where these are branch accounts, for example) the name of the person
approving the accounts is used in place of the Name of director signing the
report.
Note. The name of the directors and dates must be entered in the accounts post
signing if necessary.
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
9
Preparing documents for the conversion process
Number and date formats
Number formats
You should use one of the following number formats throughout the document.
You cannot mix two formats.
UK format
1,000,000.00
The thousand separator is a comma and the
decimal is a dot.
EU Format
1.000.000,00
The thousand separator is a dot and the
decimal is a comma.
For minus amounts, leading either minus signs or figures in parentheses are
acceptable.
Date formats
You should use either:

UK & EU style dates; OR

US style dates
UK & EU style dates
You can mix any of the UK and EU styles shown in the table below; although for
consistency we recommend that you choose one format throughout.
Long UK
Format
Example
DD Month (YY)YY
Single digits for D are also accepted.
28 February 2014
09 March 2014
9 March 14
Short UK
DD Mon (YY)YY
Single digits for D are also accepted.
24 Sept 2014 would not be accepted.
28 Sep 2014
09 Mar 2014
9 Mar 14
Slash EU
DD/MM/YY(YY)
Single digits for D and M are also
accepted.
28/02/2014
09/03/2014
9/3/14
Dot EU
DD.MM.(YY)YY
Single digits for D and M are also
accepted.
28.02.2014
09.03.2014
9.3.14
10
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Preparing documents for the conversion process
US style dates
You can mix any of the US styles shown in the table below, although for
consistency we recommend that you choose one format throughout.
Long US
Format
Example
Month DD, (YY)YY
Single digits for D are also accepted.
February 28, 2014
March 09, 2014
March 9, 14
Short US
Mon DD, (YY)YY
Single digits for D are also accepted.
Sept 28, 2014 would not be accepted
Sep 28, 2014
Mar 09, 2014
Mar 9, 14
Slash US
MM/DD/(YY)
Single digits for D and M are also
accepted.
02/28/2014
03/09/2014
3/9/14
Dot US
MM.DD.(YY)YY
Single digits for D and M are also
accepted.
02.28.2014
03.09.2014
3.9.14
Note. In long or short formats for UK & EU and US, the month must have an
initial capital. Where the month is all caps, Alphatag will automatically convert
this to initial capitals – i.e. DECEMBER will be converted to December.
Invalid date formats
The following formats are invalid and cannot be tagged:
Feb 2014
February 2014
9-Feb-2014
Dec 22nd 2014
December 22nd 2014
December 22
Dec 22
Dec 22nd
10 Dec
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
11
Preparing documents for the conversion process
Formatting paragraphs
Do not use tabs to align a paragraph, instead use the paragraph alignment and
indent options.
Left, Centre, Right Align, Justify
Decrease or increase indent
Leading and following spaces in an entry are automatically removed during the
conversion process.
Problematic layout
In the table below, the user has tried to align the numbers to the right by using
leading spaces.
12 months ended
31 December
2014
15 months
ended
31 December
2013
£’000
£’000
90
-
Note
Other operating income
Tax charge on profit on ordinary activities
7
(414)
(530)
Profit for the financial period
18
611
704
After removing the spaces, the table would look like this (the numbers would not
be right-aligned):
12 months ended
31 December
2014
15 months
ended
31 December
2013
£’000
£’000
Note
Other operating income
90
Tax charge on profit on ordinary activities
7
Profit for the financial period
18
12
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
(414)
(530)
611
704
Preparing documents for the conversion process
Resolved layout
In the table below the amounts have been right-aligned correctly:
Note
Other operating income
12 months ended
31 December
2014
15 months
ended
31 December
2013
£’000
£’000
90
-
Tax charge on profit on ordinary activities
7
(414)
(530)
Profit for the financial period
18
611
704
Heading styles
Alphatag automatically parses the document for the headings including the
headings of the notes to the accounts. This enables Alphatag to accurately identify
the XBRL tag name for the relevant amount.
Alphatag uses a dictionary to help detect headings so that wording is more
important than any formatting such as bold, italic etc.
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
13
Preparing documents for the conversion process
Heading styles using number or letter prefixes
The following are examples of heading styles that will be correctly identified by
Alphatag.
1)
Accounting policies
6.
TAX ON PROFIT ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIES
1.2
Cash flow statement
21
Reserves
21a
Profit and loss account
11a.
Tangible fixed assets – housing properties
a.
Financial assets
b)
Associated Undertakings
(a)
Analysis of charge in the period
(99)
Heading
99(b)
Heading
All the examples above include white space (one or more spaces or tabs) between
the first part (number or letter) and the second part (text).
There are a number of styles that Alphatag will not be able to detect as a heading
during the conversion process.
A
Heading
A heading that is too similar to a normal sentence cannot be
detected.
AB)
Heading
Alphatag will not detect more than one letter as part of the
heading prefix.
IX
Taxation
Roman numerals are not supported.
99bHeading
Where the number prefix is not separated by any space,
Alphatag cannot detect it as a heading.
999 Heading
There are too many digits; the maximum is (99).
99.999 Heading
There are too many digits; the maximum is (99.99).
99
Numbers in their own paragraph cannot be detected as part of
a heading.
14
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Preparing documents for the conversion process
Headings with dates
You should not split headings across multiple lines.
Alphatag will normally correctly identify headings that include a date as below.
3
Consolidated profit and loss account for the year ended 31 March 2014
Where the date is entered on a separate line, Alphatag will not be able to relate the
date to the heading during automatic tagging:
3
Consolidated profit and loss account
For the year ended 31 March 2014
Headings used with tables
Alphatag cannot detect text-only headings where they are embedded within a table
cell. Such headings must use a number or letter prefix.
The best location for a table title that is also a heading is in a paragraph above the
table. Acceptable alternatives are shown below.
Title in cell A1
This format is often used to compact the document. The title must not be in a cell
below A1 and must conform to the heading styles outlined above.
Title
Column Heading 1
Column Heading 2
Line Item 1
Value 1
Value 2
Line Item 2
Value 3
Value 4
Title in cells A1 + B1
This particular format is most often seen in Excel documents. The title must not
be in a cell below cell A1 + B1 and must conform to the heading styles outlined
above:
Title #
Title
Column Heading 1
Column Heading 2
Line Item 1
Value 1
Value 2
Line Item 2
Value 3
Value 4
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
15
Preparing documents for the conversion process
Line items detected as headings
Where a number is used at the start of a line item in a table, Alphatag may
incorrectly identify the line item as a heading and split the table.
Problematic layout
2014
2013
Authorised
1 ordinary share of £1 each
1
1
1
1
Allotted, called up and fully
paid
1 ordinary share of £1 each
The following is an example of the result from the conversion process, showing
how the table is split:
2014
2013
Authorised
1 ordinary share of £1 each
1
1
1
1
Allotted, called up and fully
paid
1 ordinary share of £1 each
Resolved layout
The word ‘One’ has replaced the number 1:
2014
2013
Authorised
One ordinary share of £1 each
1
1
1
1
Allotted, called up and fully
paid
One ordinary share of £1 each
16
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Preparing documents for the conversion process
You may need to tag the number 1 or the value may be part of a name. In such
cases, you may be able to reword the text so there is no number at the start or
insert a character such as _ or * in front of the number.
Subheadings within tables
Subheadings within tables may be incorrectly interpreted as headings and
therefore the table will be split.
Problematic layout
In the example below a heading style has been used as a sub-heading within a
table.
2014
2013
£’000
£’000
5,000
6,000
6,500
7,000
2014
£’000
2013
£’000
5,000
6,000
6,500
7,500
7,000
8,000
a) Staff costs
Wages
b) Other costs
Depreciation
After conversion the table will look like this:
a) Staff costs
Wages
b) Other costs
Depreciation
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
17
Preparing documents for the conversion process
Resolved layout
The solution is to edit the sub heading so that it does not include elements like
numbers/characters that look like a heading style:
2014
2013
£’000
£’000
5,000
6,000
6,500
7,000
Staff costs
Wages
Other costs
Depreciation
Table layouts
Use a standard table style with:

A column for line items

One or more columns of comparative data

One or more rows for column headings

The first column of the heading row should be blank as shown below
Column Heading 1
Column Heading 2
Line Item 1
Value 1
Value 2
Line Item 2
Value 3
Value 4
Note. Table borders are removed by the conversion process.
18
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Preparing documents for the conversion process
Placement of note columns within tables
Do not place note columns on the left-hand side of a table.
Problematic layout
Note columns on the left:
NOTE
NOTE
1
2
Column
Heading
Line 1
-
Line 2
99
Resolved layout
Note columns moved to the right of the line item:
Line 1
Line 2
NOTE
NOTE
Column
Heading
1
2
99
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
19
Preparing documents for the conversion process
Table cell merging
In general you should avoid merging cells within a table. The exception is the
merging of column headings.
Horizontal merging of column headings
It is useful to merge column headings especially when a value is to be repeated
across several consecutive columns.
When using multiple columns for a single accounting period within a schedule,
merge (or repeat) the date (and £) at the top of the columns to cover all columns
otherwise this data will only be applied to one column.
Problematic layout
Missing values in a column is a problem:
Group
Company
2014
2013
£’000
Line item 1
£’000
-
Line Item 2
2014
£’000
-
-
2013
£’000
-
-
-
-
-
Resolved layout
Group
Line item 1
Line Item 2
Company
2014
2014
2013
£’000
£’000
£’000
-
2014
£’000
-
2013
£’000
£’000
-
2013
-
-
It should be noted the same mechanism can and should be used for dimensional
information which may be applied to multiple consecutive columns e.g.
Group/Company/Asset Types/Restated/Unprovided etc.
20
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Preparing documents for the conversion process
Vertical merging of column headings
Using vertical merging is hugely problematic and in general is not necessary.
Problematic layout
Column headings merged:
Fixtures
and
Plant
fittings
Equipment
and
under
Assets
tooling
finance
under
equipment
lease
construction
Line
item 1
-
Line
Item 2
Total
-
-
-
Resolved layout
The following maintains the layout (and removes the merged column headings) by
having a single row for these headings but increasing the height of the row:
Fixtures
and
Plant
Line
item 1
Line
Item 2
fittings
Equipment
and
under
Assets
tooling
finance
under
equipment
lease
construction
-
Total
-
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
21
Preparing documents for the conversion process
Alternatively, you could split the text across several separate cells.
Plant
Fixtures
Equipment
and
fittings
under
and
tooling
finance
Assets
under
equipment
lease
construction
Line
item 1
Line
Item 2
-
Total
-
-
-
Restating column headings on consecutive tables
If you have consecutive tables of data it is important to restate the column
headings and to not assume the dimensional items will flow down.
Problematic layout
The first table reads as follows.
Group
Company
2014
2013
2014
2013
£’000
£’000
£’000
£’000
Line item 1
-
-
-
In the second table on the same page the column headings have not been included.
£’000
Line item 2
22
£’000
-
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
£’000
-
£’000
-
Preparing documents for the conversion process
Resolved layout
Group
Company
2014
2013
2014
2013
£’000
£’000
£’000
£’000
Line item 1
-
-
-
The second table now has the headings correctly redefined:
Group
Company
2014
2013
2014
2013
£’000
£’000
£’000
£’000
Line item 2
-
-
-
Merging line items
Do not merge line item across cells. If a line item is particularly long then increase
the height of the row rather than merging the cells.
Problematic layouts
2014
2013
-
-
2014
2013
-
-
Long line item
Split across line
Long line item
Split across line
Resolved layout
Unmerged line item with column height increased to accommodate text.
2014
2013
-
-
Long line item
Split across line
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
23
Preparing documents for the conversion process
Blank lines in tables
Do not use more than one row as a separator within a table. Where there are
multiple blank lines within a table, the table will be split during the conversion
process.
Note. The existence of formatting on a cell such as a border does not constitute a
non-blank row. This is determined by no value being in each cell across the row.
Problematic layout
A table with multiple line separators in the source document
2014
2013
£’000
£’000
Line Item 1
-
-
Line Item 2
-
-
The table will be split during the conversion process:
2014
2013
£’000
£’000
Line Item 1
-
-
Line Item 2
-
-
24
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Preparing documents for the conversion process
Resolved layout
A table with single line separator (note that the row height has been expanded):
2014
2013
£’000
£’000
Line Item 1
-
-
Line Item 2
-
-
Blank lines and merged line items
Because of a Word problem with merged cells occasionally a merged cell before a
blank line will cause the table to be split.
Problematic layout
A merged line item just before a blank line can also cause problems:
2014
2013
£’000
£’000
A very very very long long
long Item merged with
cell below
-
-
Line Item 2
-
-
Resolved layout
Do not merge the cell; rather increase the height of the row with the problem line
item:
2014
2013
£’000
£’000
A very very very very long
line Item with row height
correction
-
-
Line Item 2
-
-
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
25
Preparing documents for the conversion process
Multiple values in a single cell
Do not use multiple values in a single cell. Multiple values in a single cell cause
problems for the auto tagger.
Problematic layout
Multiple values have been used in each cell:
Heading 1
Heading 2
Line 1
1,000
-
Line 2
2,000
3,000
Line 3
3,000
-
Line 4
4,000
8,000
Line 5
9
99
Line 6
10
98
Sub heading
Resolved layout
New rows have been inserted so that each row contains a single set of
information:
Heading 1
Heading 2
Line 1
1,000
-
Line 2
2,000
3,000
Line 3
3,000
-
Line 4
4,000
8,000
Line 5
9
99
Line 6
10
98
Sub heading
26
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Preparing documents for the conversion process
Using bullets
Avoid using symbol ding bullets as these can result in text appearing as Greek text
characters after conversion in Alphatag.
Note: This problem occurs in both Excel and Word when adjusting the formatting
of text to make it compatible with iXBRL by applying a Wingdings, Wingdings1 or
Wingdings2 single font to format text paragraphs. This will result in corrupting
the text format.
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
27
Preparing documents for the conversion process
Fixing MS Word
For bulleted text in Word use one of the following options to ensure the text
displays correctly in Alphatag:
1. Use bullets from the MS Word formatting taskbar. This is the preferred
method.
2. Alternatively, follow the same steps for MS Word as described for MS
Excel in the following section Fixing MS Excel.
Fixing MS Excel
Use the following steps to ensure that bulleted text retains its format in MS Excel
after loading into Alphatag.
28
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Preparing documents for the conversion process
1. Remove the symbol font from the paragraph
2. Place the cursor where you need to insert the bullet
3. From the Insert ribbon bar click on the Symbol button and then on the
More Symbols option.
4. Pick the font you are using for the paragraph
5. Type 2022 in the Character code filed
6. Click on the Insert button
Use Macros
If you need to repeat the above process you can script these steps as a button or a
keyboard shortcut.
For more information on how to create a macro, refer to your MS Office Help.
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
29
Word documents
This section describes issues specific to Word documents.
Referring to page numbers
You should avoid using page numbers when referencing other parts of the same
document. Instead use note numbers. Page numbers will not be the same in
HTML.
Nested tables
Do not use nested tables as they cannot be tagged. Nested tables are difficult to
see if table gridlines are not displayed (see page 54). Typically a nested table may
be created where a table is copied and pasted inside another table.
Problematic layout
A table with a nested table defined for a sub section:
Column Heading 1 Column
Heading 2
Line 1
1,000
-
Line 2
2,000
3,000
Line 3
3,000
-
Line 4
4,000
8,000
Line 5
9
99
Line 6
10
98
Sub heading
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
30
Word documents
Resolved layout
The rows of the sub table have been added directly to the table, and the sub table
deleted:
Heading 1
Heading 2
Line 1
1,000
-
Line 2
2,000
3,000
Line 3
3,000
-
Line 4
4,000
8,000
Line 5
9
99
Line 6
10
98
Sub heading
Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
31
Word documents
Data tables
In general you should avoid using tabs to format the layout of a table.
A table containing tabs will not display correctly after conversion in Alphatag as
HTML handles all white space identically. In print the three primary white space
characters (space, tab, and carriage return) act in three distinct ways. In HTML
however, browsers render them all virtually the same. Whether you enter 1 space
or 100, the browser will always render the space entries as one space.
There are two problems you need to solve, if you do choose to use tabs within
your Word document:

Column overlap, whereby data from one column overlaps another

Line items that wrap. These will not be automatically converted correctly to a
table.
Problematic layout
This image created in Word shows data formatted using tabs.
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Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Word documents
The format as shown above will not convert to a table correctly.
Below are a few examples of the formatting issues that need to be resolved:
1. Headings 2013 and 2014 are above the wrong columns
2. Some left column titles are displayed in a separate column to the right
3. Digits are not properly aligned
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Word documents
Resolved layout
Follow these steps if you choose to maintain tabs within your document, rather
than converting to using a table:
1. Select the paragraphs within the table
2. Clear all formatting, this removes text formatting and also removes the tab
marks from the ruler
3. Add enough tab steps for the left hand edges of the columns. Note that this
may result in some data being misaligned.
4. Complete the following steps to align the data correctly:
a. Add tabs to move data to the right
b. Delete tabs to move data to the left
c. Ensure that every line ends with a paragraph mark. This prevents
creating extra columns and loosing padding rows
d. Ensure any tabs are deleted at the end of the line. This stops data
wrapping onto multiple lines.
Note: Remove spaces after the paragraph mark to clean up the table and reset the
font size to match the original.
Note: The process of changing/adding tab stops must be applied consistently
across the whole table.
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Word documents
The table of data with tab stops tidied up:
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Word documents
The image below shows the table after conversion in Word.
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Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Word documents
The image below shows the resolved layout after it has been converted in
Alphatag.
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Word documents
Embedding Excel documents in Word
When embedding Excel objects into Word ensure that cells outside the wanted
cell range are removed.
MS Excel cannot distinguish between selected cells and unwanted cells and will
display all populated cells in Alphatag.
The MS Excel worksheet below shows unwanted red text above and below a data
range.
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Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Word documents
The following examples show two attempts of excluding unwanted data from the
Alphatag display.
Problematic layout
In this example the embedded Excel spreadsheet window has been resized to hide
the unwanted red text above and below the data.
The red text is still displayed after conversion in Alphatag. Simply resizing the
window has not solved the problem.
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Word documents
Resolved layout
The solution is to copy and paste the wanted cells directly into MS Word, thereby
replacing the original embedded object with an MS Word table.
Using this method the unwanted cells are not included after the Word table has
been loaded into Alphatag.
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Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Word documents
Problematic layout
This example shows the original Excel worksheet with a cell range selected for
the embedded Excel object. Note that the cells containing the text in red have not
been included in the selection.
Although the unwanted cells were removed the output in Alphatag still shows the
red text above and below the selected cell range.
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Word documents
Resolved layout
The solution is to remove the cells containing the red text from the Excel
spreadsheet before creating the embedded object Excel file.
The unwanted cells have been deleted from the Excel spreadsheet prior to creating
the embedded Excel file and the correct cell range is displayed in Alphatag.
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Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Word documents
Lost underscores in padding rows
Tables with an additional blank line at the end used as a padding row to contain
underscores will not display the underscores when converted in Alphatag. The last
line will be removed because it is blank and the underscores will be lost.
Problematic layout
The image below shows an additional row with underscores. These are lost after
conversion and the padding row will be blank in Alphatag.
Total recognised gains and losses relating to the year
1,936
(4,044)
Resolved layout
Extend the row height and add the underscores to the cell containing the numbers
as shown in the image below. The underscores will then be displayed in Alphatag.
Total recognised gains and losses relating to the year
1,936
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(4,044)
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Word documents
Split tables causing automated tagging failure
Automated Accounts Production may produce output where tables of data are
split.
This is caused in the Word file by:
•
Tables containing data being split causing related data to no longer be
connected with the table headings
•
Table headings appearing within the page header
This affects the automated process as the dates/currency and other information is
no longer correctly associated with the data.
Problematic layout
Part of the data table is split and is placed in the header section.
Consequently the Income Statement data is not being tagged.
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Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Word documents
Resolved layout
Each set of data MUST exist in a single table and so users have to ensure that:
•
Headings from the page header are moved into the body of the document
above the correct table.
•
All the related table parts are joined together, this may involve, creating
new rows, moving data, even recreating the table.
The output is aligned correctly and the Income Statement data is tagged as
expected.
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Word documents
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Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Excel documents
This section describes issues specific to Excel workbooks.
Workbook page layout
Use a vertical layout for pages within a worksheet. You can also use multiple
worksheets.
It is important for worksheets and pages to appear as you would want them in the
order you want them to appear in the final document, as they cannot be reordered
within Alphatag.
You can use hidden worksheets for working data and trial balance as these will
not be shown in Alphatag.
Problematic layout
Pages in a horizontal layout are not supported:
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Excel documents
Resolved layout
Pages in a vertical layout are supported.
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Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Excel documents
Resolved layout
Pages which appear on multiple tabs are supported and can be combined with
multiple vertical sheets.
Paragraphs of text in Excel
It is tempting to put every line on a single row of Excel but unfortunately after
conversion, the relationship between a row and a paragraph will not be maintained
using this method. It is better to create a merged cell large enough for your
paragraph with word wrap turned on.
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Excel documents
Line items across multiple columns
Do not add an additional column to the left to make line items appear indented.
Alphatag will not be able to detect the line items as subheadings and will not tag
them correctly.
Problematic layout
Column 1
Column 2
Subheading
Line item
Line Item
1
3
2
4
Resolved layout
Move the Subheading value to the cell to the right and indent the Line item values
in the rows below to create the desired effect.
The table below now shows the appropriate columns and rows as defined in the
Excel worksheets.
Column 1
Subheading
Line item
Line Item
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Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Column 2
1
3
2
4
Excel documents
Textboxes
The use of text boxes in Excel is allowed with the following restrictions:

Textboxes must not overlap each other or share cells with data.

Cells must not have more than one textbox boundary within it.

Grouped textboxes will not be supported.

Complex formatting may be lost.

Textbox boundaries must be within the page border.
Problematic layout
Text boxes overlapping each other and sharing cells:
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Excel documents
Resolved layout
Correctly located text boxes do not share cells, or overlap other textboxes (e.g. the
2nd/3rd boxes), and so that they do not overlap cells with data (e.g. the titles):
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Appendix A
Configuration settings
The following configuration settings are strongly recommended:
Word
Show layout formatting
Ensure that formatting is visible by clicking the
icon in the tool bar. When
formatting is visible, you can see paragraph signs, spaces between words, tab
signs etc.
Note. The formatting signs are not printed.
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Configuration settings
Show table gridlines
The View Gridlines option assists with viewing the edges of tables and the cells
within the table.
Note. Table gridlines are not printed.
Style Inspector
This option is quite useful for determining what styles and formatting a user has
applied to a piece of text.
1. Click on the small icon in the Styles pane.
2. Click on the style inspector button at the bottom of the Styles list which will
open the Style Inspector pane.
Now if you click on a particular piece of text you are interested in you can see
which underlying style was used and what formatting has been layered on top of
that.
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Configuration settings
Clear Formatting
If you have tried other things and a table keeps splitting up when imported to
Alphatag, this may well be down to unusual formatting being applied, or when a
document is shared between users with different language settings.
The next step is to try using the Clear Formatting option. This function works on
the selected text so select a paragraph or table and then select this option. Then
reapply the formatting you require e.g. alignment/font/size/italic/bold/underline.
1. First find the part of the document you wish to reset:
2. You must now select the text to alter; this could be a table, rows on a table or
simply a paragraph in open text. If it is a complete table, select it by clicking
on the anchor symbol in the top left corner:
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Configuration settings
3. Select the Styles menu.
In Office 2013, the Styles menu looks like this:
4. Click on the down arrow at the right hand side and then select Clear
Formatting as shown below. This will immediately affect the selected text by
removing all formatting and resetting the style to “Normal”:
5. Reapply formatting minimally:
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Alphatag Formatting Guidelines
Configuration settings
Turning off the Office Clipboard
To speed up the processing of your documents by Alphatag the Office Clipboard
should be turned off.
At the left of the Home tab, click the Clipboard arrow to turn Office Clipboard on
or off.
Additionally you may well see the following icon on your task bar. This also
indicates tat the Office Clipboard is turned on:
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Configuration settings
Excel
Worksheet settings
We recommend that you use the following settings on each worksheet that is part
of the accounts:
View scaling
100% (also referred to as Zoom level)
Print scaling
Adjust to 100%
Workbook view
Page break view
Some columns may need adjusting to ensure that the correct data is within the
page boundaries.
Note. Currently Excel headers and footers are not included in the conversion.
By using the above settings the following issues can be resolved:
1. Cells showing a hash symbol (#). This means the column is too narrow
2. Cells containing oversized fonts, using a very low zoom (5%) and low
print scaling. This results in illegible cell content.
Print scaling
We recommend that you set Print scaling to 100% on the Page set up dialog.
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Configuration settings
Pagebreak view
We recommend you use Page break View to layout and edit the document.
You should also ensure that the scale for viewing in the View tab is set to 100%.
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Configuration settings
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