Web search within Excel
Step 1: Get started
Prerequisites
- You have installed GPT for Excel.
- You have opened a workbook containing text for the web search in a column.
Open the GPT for Excel add-in and run the Search the web bulk tool with the question Write one sentence to describe this company:
on a few rows to see how it works.
If you find the answers satisfactory, launch your bulk web search. Otherwise, check how to improve your results in Step 2.
Step 2: Improve your results
If your results are not satisfactory (for example, information is inaccurate, incomplete, or not relevant to your needs), you can improve them with the following approaches:
Goal | Recommended approach |
---|---|
Improve result accuracy | Analyze the sources Use the Show sources option to understand where the information comes from and assess its reliability. |
Refine search results | Narrow down the search Edit your question to provide more context. For example, provide the company website URL instead of providing a company name. |
Ensure all URLs are processed | Check the URLs provided Check that all URLs are publicly accessible and not behind a login page. info Searching a specific page only works if:
If a specific URL does not produce valid results, use a different source of information. |
Handle complex tasks | Break down complex tasks For multi-steps analysis, search the web to retrieve the information, then process the results with the most adapted bulk tool or GPT function. For example, you can use the Search the web bulk tool to generate a description for a company based on their website, then use the Classify bulk tool to define the company's industry based on the information retrieved. |
Handle missing information | Provide a fallback plan Edit your question to specify what to do when the answer cannot be found. For example: |