Seed
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Lesson 03 · Theme

What you see
isn't what's saved.

Desktop saves a setting only when it differs from the theme. That explains empty diffs, short blocks and switches that seem to vanish.

with Elizabeth Cecilia. The theme speaks for everything the file leaves out.

01

The theme holds the defaults

Every visual starts from the report theme: Desktop's base theme, plus any custom theme on top. The visual's file doesn't repeat those values. It records only the settings where this visual differs from the theme.

That keeps files small. It also means a setting you can plainly see in the Format pane may have no line in the file at all.

02

Change a setting, watch the file

In the seed, the card's padding was set to 4 px. Desktop showed an Individual padding switch, and it was already on.

Predict first: you leave Individual padding on, which is the theme's default for cards. What does the file record for that switch?

Visual › Cards › Padding
Individual padding theme: on
Visual › Callout › Label
Show label theme: on
General › Title › Spacing
Space above subtitle theme: 2
Space above plot area theme: 16
what the visual's file records

          

        

        
Predict above to open the Format pane.

      

      

        matches theme
        settings written 0
        
      

    

  


  

    
03

    
Three things that follow

    

      
A change can leave no traceSet a value equal to the theme's and the file doesn't change. The agent then reports "the seed hasn't changed", and it's right.

      
A copied block leans on the themeCard padding worked without the Individual padding switch only because the theme turns it on. Change the theme and the copied block may behave differently.

      
Reset removes lines"Reset to default" doesn't write the default. It deletes the setting, and the visual falls back to the theme.

    

    
This is why the agent copies only what Desktop wrote, and never "completes" a block with settings it thinks belong there.

  


  

    
04

    
The rule, in one breath

    

      
A file records differences from the theme, not the settings you see.

      
To teach a setting, the seed value must differ from the theme. To read a seed, remember that what's missing is set by the theme, not forgotten.

      
Next: the steps for changing the seed, in order.

    

  


  

    
  

  
  
  

  
Conducting the agent · Building a Power BI model with Claude Code

  
Designed and built by Liz Barnes with the assistance of Claude Code.

  
© 2026 Liz Barnes. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

  
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