GuidesBy featureAnyone who needs a file summarised, cleaned or turned into a chart
Handing over a spreadsheet or file without handing over judgement
For Anyone who needs a file summarised, cleaned or turned into a chart.
Modern assistants can read an uploaded file, whether a spreadsheet, a PDF or a plain document, and summarise it, clean it up or turn it into a chart. They are fast at spotting patterns and slow to notice when the data itself is wrong.
When to use this
You have a file, a spreadsheet of numbers, a long PDF or a messy export, and you need it summarised, cleaned or turned into something you can present.
- Reads a file and summarises what is in it, or answers specific questions about it
- Cleans up obvious formatting problems and restructures data into a clearer shape
- Builds a chart or table from data you describe or upload
Workflow
Upload the file and say plainly what you want, a summary, a cleanup or a specific chart
Ask it to show its working, such as which rows it excluded or how it grouped things
Spot check a sample of the output against the original file
Ask follow up questions on the same file rather than re-describing it from scratch
Keep the original file so you can always go back to the source
Prompts to try
Use it, adapt it, and make it your own.
Here is a file with [brief description]. Summarise the key patterns, and tell me about any rows or values that look incomplete or unusual. If you build a chart or table, show me how you grouped or filtered the data so I can check it.
Human lens
- You know where the data came from and whether it is complete or trustworthy
- You check the totals, the outliers and the categories, since a clean looking table can still be wrong
- You decide what the data is allowed to say, since correlation and cause are easy to blur
What to avoid
- A tidy summary can hide messy or incomplete source data, so check the raw file too
- Do not upload sensitive or regulated data to a general tool without checking that is allowed
- Large files may be read in parts, so ask it to confirm what it actually covered
Tools that fit: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini · Reviewed 2026-07-19