How we build and test templates
1. Research before building
Before a template exists, we study what people actually search for, what free alternatives already cover, and what buyers of paid templates complain about. A template only gets built if it can do something the existing options genuinely do not.
2. Generated, not hand-made
Templates are produced by generation scripts, which means every input cell is deliberately unlocked, every formula cell is protected, every dropdown is wired to a maintained list, and formatting is consistent across hundreds of rows — things that are nearly impossible to keep clean by hand.
3. Tested to the cent
An automated harness injects realistic scenarios into each build (purchases, sales, leave requests, payroll hours...) and verifies the calculated outputs against independently computed expected values, with a tolerance of half a cent. A build that fails any check does not ship.
4. Two builds, one behavior
Formula compatibility between Excel and Google Sheets is the number one source of broken templates. We restrict every file to a formula set verified to behave identically in both, and ship two separate builds. No macros — files work on Windows, Mac, the web and mobile apps.