A Workbook is the place in tableArth.ai where the data behind an analysis lives together — Google Sheets, Excel files, and databases such as MySQL and MongoDB, connected side by side and kept in sync — so every question you ask is answered against the current state of your data, not a snapshot from whenever you last exported a file.
A Workbook, defined
Think of a Workbook as a container, not a file. A single spreadsheet tab holds one flat table. A CSV upload holds one flat table, frozen the moment you exported it. A Workbook holds as many sources as an analysis actually needs — a renewals sheet in Google Sheets, a subscriptions table in MySQL, a support-tickets collection in MongoDB — treated as one connected whole instead of several separate files you reconcile by hand.
The name is literal. A Workbook behaves the way a physical workbook does: a place you keep coming back to, not a document you generate once and file away. tableArth.ai reads the structure of each source when you connect it, keeps a live link back to where the data actually lives, and lets you ask a question against the whole thing in plain English.
That's also the direct contrast with a single flat sheet. A flat sheet is one table, one shape, done as soon as you save it — fine for a single answer, but it can't hold a second source, and it has no way of knowing when the numbers behind it have moved on. A Workbook is built to hold more than one source and to notice when any of them changes.
What you can put in it
A Workbook isn't limited to one kind of source, and it isn't limited to just one of each either — add more than one sheet or more than one database if the analysis calls for it. You can connect:
Google Sheets and Excel bring the spreadsheets your team already works in. MySQL and MongoDB bring the databases your product runs on, queried in place instead of exported first, and more connectors are being added regularly. If your data lives in PostgreSQL or Druid instead, you can already query those directly in plain English — that's a closely related capability covered on the talk to your database page.
How sync works
Connecting a source to a Workbook isn't a one-time import. tableArth.ai keeps a live link back to each source, so as the underlying data changes — a row added to the sheet, a record updated in the database — the Workbook reflects it automatically. You never re-upload a file to keep an analysis current; the sync does that for you.
Workbook
Synced
Every source in a Workbook carries its own live status. When you ask a question, tableArth.ai reaches into the current data behind each connected source — the same data your team is looking at right now — rather than a copy made back when you first connected it. That also means there's only one connected copy of each source, not a handful of versions emailed around with slightly different numbers — everyone asking a question against the same Workbook gets an answer computed from the same live data.
Asking across sources
The payoff of putting multiple sources in one Workbook is that a single question can use all of them. Instead of pulling one number from a sheet, another from a database, and reconciling them by hand, you ask in plain English and tableArth.ai pulls from every connected source to return one unified answer.
You only ask once. tableArth.ai works out which sources and tables the question actually needs, joins them behind the scenes, and returns a single answer — with the chart that fits it — instead of three separate results you'd have to combine yourself. Nobody asking the question has to know which source held which number; that's the join tableArth.ai makes for you.
Why it beats a flat export
Compare that to the default most teams fall back on: exporting everything into one flat sheet. It works, right up until the data changes or the analysis needs more than one table.
| Capability | One-time export / flat sheet | Workbook in tableArth.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Freshness | Frozen the moment you exported it | Live — matches each source right now |
| Structure | Tabs and tables squashed into one | Each source's tables stay intact |
| Staying current | Re-export and re-upload by hand | Syncs on its own, nothing to re-upload |
| Sources in play | One file, one source | Many sources, connected side by side |
| Cross-source questions | Not possible — nothing to join across | One question, answered across every source |
A flat export also throws away structure. Multiple tabs or tables get squashed into a single sheet, which means VLOOKUPs and copy-paste before you can even ask a question. A Workbook keeps each source's tables and tabs intact and joins related data the way you'd join tables in a database, so your data never has to be flattened into one sheet just to be usable. See how this plays out day to day in live data vs. one-time uploads, or how the joins themselves work in joining data across sheets and tables.
The throughline is the same one running through the rest of this page: a Workbook is data you keep connected, not data you keep re-sending. Build it once, and every question you ask after that is answered against what's actually true right now.
What is a Workbook?
A Workbook is the place in tableArth.ai where connected data sources — Google Sheets, Excel files, and databases — live together and stay in sync, so you can ask a question in plain English and get an answer from current data instead of a one-time upload.
What sources can it hold?
A Workbook can hold Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel files, and databases such as MySQL and MongoDB, side by side in one place — with more connectors on the way.
Does it stay in sync?
Yes. A Workbook automatically syncs with each connected source, so as the underlying data changes, your analysis stays up to date without any re-uploading.
Can I ask across all sources at once?
Yes. Ask a single question in natural language and tableArth.ai pulls data across every source connected to the Workbook to return one unified answer.