Guidance: Your AI Data Editor
Guidance transforms data workflows with plain-English instructions for formatting, calculations, transformations, and more.
We're excited to share a new feature for TableFlow: Guidance. This makes data extraction more flexible by allowing you to provide plain-English instructions to refine, format, and transform data. It's like having an AI data editor working alongside you.
In this post, we'll explain what Guidance is, how it improves on templates, and how it can enhance your data workflows. You'll learn to adjust data, fix errors, and apply complex logic—all without code.
What is Guidance?
Guidance allows you to give natural language commands to our models during data extraction. In TableFlow, you use templates to define the data you want to extract from your documents. Guidance expands on this, allowing you to handle unexpected formats or one-off changes.
You can map fields, format data, perform calculations, and merge rows using simple instructions. For example: "Capitalize all product names" or "Add a 10% markup to prices." It's like having an assistant to help clean your data.
More Flexibility
Real-world data often has exceptions and edge cases. Extraction Guidance enables you to handle unique or one-off cases without modifying your template.
For example, if a supplier file lacks a brand name column, simply instruct the AI: "Set the brand to 'Acme' for all rows." The model applies the change instantly—no manual edits required.
How to Use Guidance
When uploading a file to TableFlow, just set the guidance parameter with the instructions of what you want done. Here's some examples:
1. Advanced Field Mapping
Resolve ambiguous column headers.
Use 'Product Title' as the 'Name' field.
2. Dynamic Data Formatting
Ensure clean, consistent data without scripts.
Text Formatting:
Convert all product names to proper case.
Number Formatting:
Round all prices to the nearest dollar.
3. On-the-Fly Calculations
Apply calculations during extraction, like pricing or tax adjustments.
Add a 10% markup to all prices.
4. Merging and Combining Rows
Consolidate duplicate or related entries easily.
Merging Duplicates:
Sum quantities for duplicate rows.
Combining Info:
Combine rows with the same SKU, concatenating descriptions.
Refine Data with Feedback
Guidance can be set on upload, before data is extracted from a file, or it can be set while rerunning an extraction. If you spot an issue after extraction, you can use guidance to tweak the data without starting over.
Convert all prices from EUR to USD using today's exchange rate.
TableFlow reprocesses the file with your feedback, letting you refine data until it's perfect.
Try Guidance Today
Ready to see how Guidance with TableFlow can streamline your data workflows? Book a demo and we'll show you how to handle any file format with simple instructions.
Book a DemoGuidance brings more flexibility to TableFlow, making data extraction faster than ever. Use plain-English instructions to tackle the messiest of files and get the data you need out of them.
Key Takeaways
- • Guidance allows plain-English instructions for data transformation
- • Handle exceptions and edge cases without modifying templates
- • Apply formatting, calculations, and merging operations instantly
- • Refine data before or after extraction with flexible feedback
- • No coding required—accessible to all users
In Summary: Guidance transforms TableFlow into a flexible AI data editor, allowing you to refine, format, and transform data with simple instructions—making complex data workflows accessible to everyone.
Frequently Asked Questions
About Eric Ciminelli
CTO & Co-Founder at TableFlow. Expert in AI/ML systems, distributed computing, and building enterprise-grade document processing solutions.
Connect on LinkedIn →Related Articles
TableFlow's AI automatically identifies and extracts relevant data from complex multi-sheet Excel workbooks, skipping templates, archives, and irrelevant tabs.
Transform document photos into structured data instantly. No scanners needed - just snap, send, and watch clean data flow into your systems within seconds.
Learn how TableFlow templates transform document extraction from tedious manual work into scalable, intelligent workflows that adapt automatically to any document variation.