The present disclosure describes pattern detections for storing multiple values in a compound object. A compound object is a value that stores multiple values in a single cell, wherein those multiple values are organized according to a defined structure. The compound object may store multiple values according to a known defined data structure. In embodiments, the compound object may store multiple values as any nested combination of any one of the known or user-defined data structures (e.g., nesting an array within a vector, or nesting a record within a record, or nesting matrices within a table, etc.). Each of the values stored in the compound object are individually referenceable and can fully participate with spreadsheet functionality including calculations, referencing, and formatting.