Build a table you can trust

Draft learning material, awaiting human review.

Use one row for field headings and one row for each record. Keep each column consistent: an order date belongs in the date column, and an amount belongs in the amount column. Avoid merged cells and decorative blank rows inside the data.

An identifier is not a quantity. Import codes such as 0042 and telephone numbers as text to preserve leading zeros and signs. Document date conventions; 2026-04-03 is clearer internationally than 03/04/2026.

Formatting changes appearance. Displaying 1.234 with two decimal places usually shows 1.23 without changing the stored value. A row of #### can indicate that the column is too narrow; widen it before changing the data.

Sketch headers for a small order table: Order ID, Date, Region, Quantity, Unit price. Which fields are identifiers? Order ID is an identifier.