How to turn your spreadsheet into an interactive web application in minutes

We live in a world exploding with data. But what can you do with that data besides accumulating it? How can you glean insights from your data without a team of skilled programmers? We believe data insights should be accessible to everybody, regardless of technical abilities. With Polymer Search, you can transform your data-filled spreadsheets into a highly interactive web application in minutes.

Step 1: Sign in to your Polymer account. If you don’t have an account, you can sign up and create one for free.

If you want to explore the possibilities of Polymer before trying it with your personal data sets, you can check out any of our example data sets. Take a look at whichever type of data set are most similar to your own.

If you’re ready to learn about your own spreadsheet data, you can move on to step two.

Step 2: Click the blue button that says “Add New” at the bottom left of your screen. To make it easier to upload multiple spreadsheets at a time, we recommend connecting Polymer to your Dropbox account, Airtable, Google Drive, or Google Sheets.

If you want to start with just one data file, you can drag and drop the file or click the “Upload a CSV or Excel file” button to select it.

Clicking “Your Data” on the left will show all the spreadsheets you’ve uploaded and any example datasets you have opened.

Step 3: Click the data set you want to open. Within moments, Polymer will analyze your data and turn it into a searchable web application.

Step 4: Click “Launch Site” and you will answer two questions that will start you on your interactive web application journey.

When asked, “What do you want to do with your data?” the options are “Search and Query,” “Instant Visualizations,” “Automated Insights,” or “Data Sharing & Collaboration.” You can choose multiple answers or have the tool concentrate more on your specific goals.

Search and Query focuses your attention on Text Search and Visual Tags based on your data. This makes your data extremely searchable and allows you to filter your data so you can easily extract the information you need. Instant Visualizations creates detailed visual reports that find trends and correlations you may not have even considered!

Automated Insights draws meaningful conclusions from your data within a few clicks. Data Sharing & Collaboration allows you to share and publish your new web app with anyone around the world.

You will also be asked whether you want your data presented as a data grid, cards, or in a gallery view. Feel free to view it differently later.

That’s it! Within minutes you will have an interactive web application that will deeply analyze your data to provide valuable insights and display it in visually appealing ways that are perfect for presentations.

Have more questions? Book an onboarding today.

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