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Getting Started

Keelstone lets Salesforce admins configure actions that run inside the Microsoft Excel taskpane. Developers build those actions as standard Salesforce Screen Flows — Keelstone handles launching them, authenticating the user, and relaying results back to Excel.

This guide is for developers building custom flows and LWC components on top of the Keelstone managed package.

Prerequisites​

  • Keelstone managed package installed in your Salesforce org
  • Keelstone Excel add-in installed and connected to your org
  • Salesforce CLI (sf) and a scratch org or sandbox for development
  • The Keelstone Samples package installed (provides reference components and a working template)

How it works in 60 seconds​

  1. An admin creates a Keelstone Action record pointing at a Screen Flow API name
  2. The Excel taskpane reads those actions and renders them as tiles
  3. When a user clicks a tile, Keelstone opens an Office dialog and launches the flow via Lightning Out
  4. The flow runs normally — it can include any LWC screen components
  5. When the flow finishes (or an LWC component fires a KEELSTONE_INSERT event), the result is sent back to Excel
Excel Taskpane → Office Dialog → Lightning Out → Your Screen Flow
                                                        ↓
                                             LWC components run
                                                        ↓
                                         KEELSTONE_INSERT event fires
                                                        ↓
                                         Excel receives the .xlsx file

Install the Samples package​

The Samples package installs working reference flows and LWC components into your org. Install it after the managed package.

sf package install --package Keelstone-Samples@0.8.0-2 -o <your-org-alias> --wait 10

After install, the Keelstone Account Search flow is available and can be assigned to a Keelstone Action record immediately.

Create your first Action record​

In your Salesforce org:

  1. Go to Keelstone Actions (custom object, installed by the managed package)
  2. Create a new record:
    • Label: Generate Account Report
    • Action Type: Flow
    • Action Target: Keelstone_Account_Search (the Flow API name)
    • Active: checked
  3. Open the Excel taskpane — the action appears as a tile

Build a custom flow​

Any Screen Flow can be a Keelstone action. The simplest approach:

  1. Create a Screen Flow in Salesforce
  2. Add one or more screens using standard or custom LWC components
  3. Point a Keelstone Action record at the flow's API name

To produce Excel output, include the excelTemplate component on a flow screen (see Excel Template Component).