Labeling spreadsheet cells by role helps, but hits a hard limit because spreadsheets are inherently 2D with infinite possible relationships. Better approaches should flatten spreadsheets into 1D text rather than trying to classify cells into fixed categories.
This paper tackles how to make spreadsheets queryable by AI systems. The key insight is that spreadsheets are fundamentally 2D structures that don't fit neatly into categories—so instead of trying to classify each cell's role, the field should develop better ways to convert spreadsheets into readable text that language models can work with.