Extract

Extract key information like names, email addresses, and product attributes from unstructured text directly in Google Sheets. For example, you can extract name, weight, and price from bike model descriptions to create a catalog.

Run the bulk tool

Prerequisites

• You have installed GPT for Sheets.
• You have opened a spreadsheet containing text for extraction in a column.

1. Select Extensions > GPT for Sheets and Docs > Open.

   

2. In the sidebar, select Bulk tools, and click Extract.

   
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   If you open the Bulk tools for the first time, you are prompted to grant additional permissions. These permissions are required for GPT for Sheets to write in your spreadsheets.

   1. Click Sign-in with Google. A Sign in with Google window opens.
   2. Select the Google account with which you have installed GPT for Sheets.
   3. Click Allow to grant GPT for Sheets the required permissions.

3. Set up your bulk tool run.

   

   	Field	Description	Example
   	Column name row (optional)	If your column names aren't in the first row, select the number of the row that contains the column names. The bulk tool will run on the rows below this one.	2
   	Extract	Enter the entities you want to extract.	Name Weight Price
   	From each cell in column	Select the column that contains the text from which you want to extract entities.	A: Description
   	Put results in column	Select the column or columns to put the results in. Cells in these columns won't be overwritten with the results if they contain text.	B, C, D
   	Extraction instructions (optional)	Enter specific instructions for the extraction.	Name: Extract only the model name, without manufacturer or year

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   The setup for the bulk tool run is stored in the History and can be reused for other runs.

   

4. Run the Extract bulk tool starting from the first empty cell in the results columns:

   1. Select a specific number of rows to run or select All rows.
   2. Click Run rows.
   
   

You have set up and run the Extract bulk tool. If needed, try improving the results.

Improve results

Try different models

Find out which models work best for different use cases in our AI models overview. You can try different models by selecting them in the model switcher.

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The model selection is a spreadsheet setting. It applies to all bulk tool runs and all GPT function executions in the current spreadsheet.

Provide extraction instructions

If your results lack precision, include incorrect extractions or inconsistent formatting, or omit information, you can improve them by providing context and specific rules for the AI to follow during extraction.

You can define the following types of instructions for the AI:

• Extraction instructions are defined for the current bulk tool run.
• Global instructions can also be defined in the spreadsheet settings and apply to all bulk tools and GPT functions in the current spreadsheet.

If both extraction and global instructions are defined, the AI uses both as a combined set of instructions. For consistent extraction results, make sure both sets of instructions are aligned and do not contradict each other.

For example, omit the global instructions and only define extraction instructions:

The following table provides examples of extraction instructions for different goals:

Goal	Description	Example
Remove irrelevant information	Define what should be excluded from the extraction to get cleaner results.	Name: Extract only the model name, without manufacturer or year
Normalize entities	Set a consistent output for variations of the same entity in your text.	Weight: Extract weight in kilograms
Extract numerical values and units	Separate numbers from units to simplify their manipulation.	Add Price value and Price currency as entities in the Extract field, then instruct: Price value: Extract only the numerical value Price currency: Extract only the currency code (for example USD, or EUR)

Perform open-ended extraction

Open-ended extraction helps you gather a wide range of information without specifying each entity. This approach works well when entities vary from one cell to another or when you want to avoid missing any extraction. For example, enter the following in the Extract field:

All relevant product details as a comma-separated list.

What's next

Try another bulk tool.