document-quality-standards

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Use when creating or editing documents (DOCX, PDF, XLSX, PPTX) that need professional output. Adds visual verification, typography hygiene, and formula patterns to the document-skills plugin.

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Sourcebelumume/claude-skills

Added on2026-02-21

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add belumume/claude-skills document-quality-standards

SKILL.md Content

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Document Quality Standards

Patterns that complement the official

document-skills

plugin. Apply these alongside xlsx, pdf, docx, and pptx skills.

Visual-First Verification

Core principle: Text extraction misses critical details. Always verify visually.

"Only do python printing as a last resort because you will miss important details with text extraction (e.g. figures, tables, diagrams)."

The Render-Inspect-Fix Loop

For ANY document operation (create, edit, convert):

1. Generate/modify document
2. Convert to PNG:
   pdftoppm -png -r 150 document.pdf output
3. Visually inspect the PNG at 100% zoom
4. Fix any issues found
5. REPEAT until clean

Never deliver a document without PNG verification. This catches:

Clipped or overlapping text
Broken tables
Missing figures
Formatting inconsistencies
Orphans/widows
Unreadable characters

Quick Conversion Commands

bash

# DOCX → PDF → PNG
soffice --headless --convert-to pdf document.docx
pdftoppm -png -r 150 document.pdf page

# PDF → PNG directly
pdftoppm -png -r 150 document.pdf page

# PPTX → PDF → PNG
soffice --headless --convert-to pdf presentation.pptx
pdftoppm -png -r 150 presentation.pdf slide

Typography Hygiene

Hyphen Safety

Never use non-breaking hyphens (U+2011). They cause rendering failures in many viewers.

python

# WRONG - may render as boxes or break layouts
text = "co‑author"  # U+2011 non-breaking hyphen

# CORRECT - always use ASCII hyphen
text = "co-author"  # U+002D standard hyphen-minus

Detection and fix:

python

# Find problematic hyphens
import re
if '\u2011' in text:
    text = text.replace('\u2011', '-')

# Also watch for other non-ASCII dashes
text = text.replace('\u2013', '-')  # en-dash
text = text.replace('\u2014', '-')  # em-dash (if hyphen intended)

Citation Format

All citations must be human-readable in standard scholarly format:

No internal tool tokens (e.g.,
```
【4:2†source】
```
)
No malformed references
Include: Author, Title, Source, Date, URL (if applicable)

# WRONG
See source 【4:2†source】 for details.

# CORRECT
See Smith (2024), "Document Standards," Journal of Tech, p. 45.

Spreadsheet Formula Patterns

Complements the xlsx skill's color conventions with additional patterns.

Extended Color Codes

Beyond the standard 5 colors (blue inputs, black formulas, green cross-sheet, red external, yellow assumptions):

Color	Meaning	Use Case
Gray text	Static constants	Values that never change (tax rates, conversion factors)
Orange background	Review/caution	Cells needing verification or approval
Light red background	Errors/issues	Known problems to fix

Formula Simplicity

Use helper cells instead of complex nested formulas.

# WRONG - hard to debug, audit, or modify
=IF(AND(B5>100,C5<50),B5*1.1*IF(D5="A",1.2,1),B5*0.9)

# CORRECT - use helper columns
E5: =B5>100           (Threshold check)
F5: =C5<50            (Secondary check)
G5: =IF(D5="A",1.2,1) (Category multiplier)
H5: =IF(AND(E5,F5),B5*1.1*G5,B5*0.9)  (Final calculation)

Benefits:

Each step is auditable
Errors are easier to trace
Business logic is visible
Modifications are safer

Avoid Dynamic Array Functions

For maximum compatibility, avoid:

```
FILTER()
```
- not supported in older Excel
```
XLOOKUP()
```
- Excel 365+ only
```
SORT()
```
- dynamic array function
```
SEQUENCE()
```
- dynamic array function
```
UNIQUE()
```
- dynamic array function

Use classic equivalents:

```
FILTER()
```
→
```
INDEX/MATCH
```
with helper columns
```
XLOOKUP()
```
→
```
INDEX/MATCH
```
```
SORT()
```
→ manual sorting or helper columns
```
SEQUENCE()
```
→ manually entered row numbers

Finance-Specific Formatting

Additional to xlsx skill standards:

python

# Hide gridlines for cleaner appearance
sheet.sheet_view.showGridLines = False

# Add borders above totals (not around every cell)
from openpyxl.styles import Border, Side
thin_top = Border(top=Side(style='thin'))
total_cell.border = thin_top

# Cite sources in cell comments, not adjacent cells
from openpyxl.comments import Comment
cell.comment = Comment("Source: 10-K FY2024, p.45", "Analyst")

Quality Checklist

Before delivering any document:

PNG verification completed at 100% zoom
No clipped or overlapping text
Tables render correctly
Figures/images display properly
No U+2011 or problematic Unicode
Citations are human-readable
Formulas use helper cells where complex
No Excel formula errors (#REF!, #DIV/0!, etc.)
Professional, client-ready appearance

Integration with Official Skills

This skill adds patterns on top of the document-skills plugin:

Official Skill	This Skill Adds
`xlsx`	Helper cells, extended colors, dynamic array warnings
`pdf`	Visual-first philosophy, render-inspect-fix loop
`docx`	Typography hygiene, PNG verification emphasis
`pptx`	Same verification workflow

Always read both this skill AND the relevant official skill when working with documents.

document-quality-standards

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Document Quality Standards

Visual-First Verification

The Render-Inspect-Fix Loop

Quick Conversion Commands

Typography Hygiene

Hyphen Safety

Citation Format

Spreadsheet Formula Patterns

Extended Color Codes

Formula Simplicity

Avoid Dynamic Array Functions

Finance-Specific Formatting

Quality Checklist

Integration with Official Skills