Stop Uploading Excel to ChatGPT (Until You Use This Workflow)

When using AI tools like ChatGPT to analyze complex Excel files with multiple related sheets, a reliable workflow requires: (1) setting guardrail prompts that establish rules for how the AI should process the file, (2) having the AI inspect the workbook first to identify sheets, connections, and data issues, (3) verifying basic check numbers before trusting complex analysis, and (4) requiring the AI to reconcile results back to source data. This systematic approach prevents errors and hallucinations when the AI must join tables and perform calculations that don't exist in the original file.