Reviewed by Thomas & Øyvind — NorwegianSpark
Last updated: April 2026
Spreadsheets are the backbone of modern business, yet most professionals use barely ten percent of what Excel or Google Sheets can do. Complex formulas, pivot tables, and data visualisation remain dark arts for anyone who is not a spreadsheet power user. PopAI changes that equation entirely by letting you describe what you want in plain English and having the AI write the formulas, build the charts, and generate the reports for you.
In this tutorial you will sign up for PopAI Pro, upload a real spreadsheet, ask natural-language questions about your data, auto-generate formulas, build a visual report, and export the finished product back to Excel or Google Sheets. By the end, you will wonder why you ever spent hours wrestling with VLOOKUP.
Step 1 — Sign Up for PopAI Pro
Go to PopAI and create an account. PopAI offers a free tier with limited queries per day, but for the spreadsheet features covered in this tutorial you will want the Pro plan. It unlocks unlimited queries, higher file-size limits, and priority processing. There is typically a free trial period, so you can follow along without committing immediately.
Once logged in, you will see the main workspace. On the left sidebar, look for Pro Sheets. This is PopAI's dedicated spreadsheet module. Click it to open a blank canvas where you can either create a new sheet or upload an existing file.
A note on data security: PopAI processes your files on their servers to run AI analysis. If your spreadsheet contains highly sensitive information (payroll, health data, trade secrets), review PopAI's privacy policy first. For standard business data like sales reports, marketing metrics, or project trackers, the platform's encryption and data-handling practices are in line with industry norms.
Step 2 — Upload Your Spreadsheet
Click Upload File and select an Excel (.xlsx) or CSV file from your computer. For this tutorial, imagine you have a sales report with columns for Date, Product, Region, Units Sold, and Revenue. PopAI parses the file and displays it in a familiar grid view.
After upload, PopAI automatically detects column types (date, number, text, currency) and shows a summary bar at the top: total rows, columns, and any detected issues like empty cells or inconsistent formatting. If it flags anything, you can fix it inline or ask the AI to clean the data for you. For example, type: “Fill empty cells in the Revenue column with zero.” PopAI will apply the change across all affected rows instantly.
You can also connect directly to Google Sheets by clicking Import from Google. This creates a live link, so changes you make in PopAI can be synced back. The Google integration requires a one-time OAuth authorisation.
Step 3 — Ask Questions in Plain English
This is PopAI's standout feature. Click the Ask AI button (or press the keyboard shortcut) and type a question about your data. Examples:
- “What was the total revenue in Q1?”
- “Which product had the highest units sold in March?”
- “Show me a month-over-month growth rate for each region.”
- “Are there any outliers in the Revenue column?”
PopAI responds with both a natural-language answer and the underlying data. For the Q1 revenue question, you might see: “Total revenue in Q1 2026 was $482,350, with the North region contributing 41% of the total.” Below the answer, PopAI shows the calculation it used, so you can verify accuracy.
This conversational interface is remarkably powerful for ad-hoc analysis. Instead of building a pivot table, filtering by date, and summing a column manually, you simply ask. The AI understands date ranges, column names, and common business metrics without you having to specify cell references.
Step 4 — Generate Formulas Automatically
Beyond answering questions, PopAI can write formulas and insert them directly into your sheet. Try these prompts:
- “Add a column that calculates profit margin assuming 60% cost of goods.”
- “Create a running total column for Revenue.”
- “Add a column that flags any row where Units Sold is more than two standard deviations above the mean.”
PopAI generates the formula, shows it to you for approval, and then applies it to every row. The formulas are standard Excel/Sheets syntax, so when you export the file later, they will work natively in your spreadsheet application. No vendor lock-in.
For more complex transformations, you can chain requests. For example: “First, split the Date column into separate Year, Month, and Day columns. Then add a column that classifies each row as High, Medium, or Low revenue based on thirds.” PopAI handles multi-step instructions gracefully, executing them in order.
Step 5 — Create a Report
Click the Report tab at the top of the Pro Sheets module. Here you can build a visual dashboard from your data using natural language. Try:
- “Create a bar chart showing total revenue by product.”
- “Add a line chart of monthly revenue trends.”
- “Show a pie chart of revenue share by region.”
- “Add a summary table with average units sold per product per month.”
Each chart appears on a drag-and-drop canvas. You can resize them, reorder them, and add text blocks for commentary. The result is a polished, presentation-ready report that would have taken an hour or more to build manually in Excel.
PopAI also offers an Auto Report button. Click it and the AI analyses your entire dataset, identifies the most interesting patterns, and generates a complete report with charts and commentary. It is surprisingly insightful and serves as a great starting point that you can then customise.
Step 6 — Export Back to Excel or Google Sheets
When you are finished, click Export. PopAI supports export to .xlsx (Excel), .csv, and direct sync back to Google Sheets. If you used the Google Sheets integration in Step 2, clicking Sync to Google pushes all your new columns, formulas, and cleaned data back to the original sheet.
For the report, you can export as a PDF for stakeholders or as individual PNG images for each chart. The PDF export includes a table of contents and page numbers, making it look professional without any extra formatting work on your part.
One practical workflow many users adopt: upload raw data to PopAI every Monday, ask for a weekly summary report, export it as PDF, and email it to their team. The entire process takes about five minutes once you have a saved set of prompts.
Turn plain English into powerful spreadsheets
Try PopAI Pro →For a full comparison of PopAI vs. ChatGPT Code Interpreter and SheetAI, check out our PopAI Review (2026). Explore more in our AI Productivity category.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does PopAI work with Google Sheets?
Yes. You can import from and export to Google Sheets directly via OAuth. PopAI also accepts uploaded .xlsx and .csv files, so virtually any spreadsheet format is supported.
Can PopAI replace an Excel expert?
For most day-to-day analysis, yes. PopAI handles formulas, pivot-style analysis, charts, and data cleaning through natural language. However, for extremely complex macros, VBA scripts, or highly custom financial models, you may still need a human specialist. Think of PopAI as a tool that handles 80-90% of spreadsheet tasks instantly.
Is my data safe when I upload it to PopAI?
PopAI uses encryption in transit and at rest. Files are processed on their servers for AI analysis but are not shared with third parties. For highly regulated data (HIPAA, SOC 2 requirements), review their compliance documentation or consider using the self-hosted enterprise option if available.
What types of analysis can PopAI perform?
Almost anything you can describe: sum, average, median, standard deviation, growth rates, trend lines, correlation, outlier detection, pivot-style grouping, conditional formatting, and more. It can also perform text analysis on columns containing product names or customer feedback, clustering similar entries together.
Can I save my prompts for reuse?
Yes. PopAI Pro includes a Saved Prompts feature where you can store your most-used queries. This is ideal for recurring reports: upload fresh data, run your saved prompts, and export, all in under five minutes.