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How to process CSV and XLSX files with SmartChat™
Storytell can now analyze structured data in the form of .csv and/or .xlsx files. If you haven't used this feature yet, we encourage you to give it a try. This new mode is triggered in SmartChat™ under the following conditions:
- You are chatting with 5 or fewer files. This can be an individual document, a tag, or tag group
- Soon, this will be updated to allow for chatting with up to 10 .csv files, or a combination of files, with a maximum of 10 when in analytics mode (e.g., 1 .csv and 9 text files).
- At least one of the files is a .csv / .xlsx file
Please note the maximum file sizes that can be processed:
- 10 MB for .xlsx files
- 20 MB for .csv files
- 500 MB for other normal file types
You will know when you are using this new feature when a chat response starts with: " You are chatting with CSVs, switching to Analytics Mode... "
So what exactly is different about this mode? In short, this new mode actually let's an AI model write and execute it's own code! Think of it like a personal Data Analyst that can do everything from describing datasets to identifying patterns/trends and even training it's own Machine Learning model for specific tasks.
Tips & Tricks This new feature is in Beta, and as a result can be fragile, so I've collected some tips and tricks here to help you get the most value possible out of this tool.
1. Write clear and detailed prompt:
This includes describing the file format and content (.csv with stock data), defining any terminology (like custom metrics and column names) that could be confusing, and providing guidance on how you would like the question to be answered. Here is sample prompt you can use when analyzing stock data to give you a starting point:
Attached is csv file with daily opening and closing prices for TSLA (a publicly traded company). Please answer the following questions:
1. Which day had the gain? Gain is defined as the largest difference between the closing and opening price
2. Please forecasts the opening prices for the next 30 days using a SARIMA times series modeling approach
Note: Closing prices are in the column labeled "cl". Opening prices are in the column labeled "op"** Don't worry if you don't know what SARIMA is, it's just a specific technique for forecasting data. I'm just using it to illustrate that you can give direction on how you want a problem to be approached.
2. Clean your data beforehand.
This new mode actually writes/runs code you in order to answer complex questions. For those that have done some data analysis before, you are likely familiar with how important formatting can be. If you provide messy, poorly formatted data, SmartChat™ will likely have difficulties reading the file in the first place. ** Here’s a useful guide to Excel Data Cleaning Techniques
3. Not all errors are created equal. You might notice an "error" mentioned when reading files or running an analysis. This does not necessarily mean that the request is complete or has failed. The model is actually able to debug / fix some errors on the fly and might just need more time to finish the request. You can always check if the chat is still in progress by looking for the blinking cursor.
4. Chat History is now enabled! We've enabled chat history for up to 5 previous messages, so feel free to ask follow up questions! Here is what a typical output might look like:
How to process scanned PDFs with SmartChat™
While we don’t currently process scanned PDFs, here’s a workaround: use Optical Character Recognition (OCRs) to convert them to PDFs we can process.
- Go to this site https://avepdf.com/pdf-ocr
- Upload your scanned PDF
- Select
Start OCRonce your document has uploaded - Download the OCR
- Upload the OCR to SmartChat™