Skip to main content

Classification within Excel

GPT for Excel can help you classify your catalog items, press articles, or any other text into the most relevant category within Excel. This guide walks you through classifying apparel products for lifecycle inventory management, and improving your classification approach to get the best results.

Step 1: Get started

Prerequisites

Open the GPT for Excel add-in and run the Classify bulk tool with categories Running, Workout, Casual, Yoga, Golf, Tennis on a few rows to see how it works.

Click Home tab, GPT for Excel Word. Then Bulk tools tab, Classify / Categorize.

If you find the answers satisfactory, go ahead and launch your bulk classification! Otherwise, check how to improve your results in Step 2.

Step 2: Improve your results

For best results, use gpt-4o, which offers higher accuracy. Ensure Creativity is set to 0.

If your results are still not satisfactory (e.g., classification seems inaccurate, inconsistent, or too broad), you can further improve them by adding Classification instructions to give more specific guidelines to the AI.

Click Add classification instructions
info

You can provide specific instructions for multiple categories simultaneously. Separate each set of instructions with a new line for clarity.

GoalRecommended approach
Improve accuracyMinimize category overlap
To the extent possible, make sure your categories don't overlap too much. If they do, provide instructions for disambiguation. For example:

Running: for high-intensity activities. Jogging: for slower-paced activities.
Handle content outside categoriesAdd a fallback category
Capture all irrelevant content into a fallback category. For example:

If an item doesn't fit any of these categories, classify it as 'Other'.
Classify into most specific category in a hierarchyUse full paths to describe your hierarchy
In a hierarchical system, use the full path of your most specific categories. For example:

Casual/T-shirts, Casual/Jeans, Workout/Tops, Workout/Bottoms, Running/Shoes, Running/Apparel
Once you have refined your classification approach and are satisfied with the results from the initial rows, you are ready to launch your classification in bulk. Select more cells or even all cells, click Run rows, and watch GPT for Excel handle the rest of the classification.