Guides
From spreadsheet to app, step by step
Turn the spreadsheet your team has outgrown into a real app with forms, roles and its own database. How to describe it, bring your data over and roll it out.
Kuika AI team5 min read
To turn a spreadsheet into an app, attach the sheet to your prompt in Kuika AI and describe who uses it and what each person does. Kuika AI reads the columns, sheets and formulas, builds an app with forms, lists and roles around them, and gives it its own database. You then bring your rows over with a CSV import. The result keeps your structure but removes the problems that come with a shared file: overwritten cells, unclear versions and everyone seeing everything.
Signs your spreadsheet should be an app
Spreadsheets are great until several people depend on the same one. You are probably ready to move when:
- People overwrite each other's changes or work in copies.
- You add a "status" column and then chase people by email to update it.
- Some people should see only their own rows, but the sheet shows everything.
- You need a history of who changed what.
- Somebody spends an hour every week building the same summary.
An app fixes these with forms, roles, a change history and reports that update on their own.
Step 1: Describe the work around the sheet
The sheet shows your data. It does not show the process. Before you start, write down who adds rows, who changes them, who only reads them and what the weekly report looks like.
Step 2: Attach the sheet and describe the app
On the Kuika AI home page, attach your Excel or CSV file with the paperclip in the prompt box. Kuika AI reads every sheet and the results of formulas, and it understands the data as a table, not as a block of text. Then write a short prompt about the people and the process.
Turn the attached spreadsheet into an app. Each row is a customer order with a status. Sales enters new orders through a form, the warehouse changes the status from Packed to Shipped, and finance sees a monthly summary per customer. Keep the column names from the sheet and add a history of who changed each status and when.
Step 3: Review the plan
With Plan mode on, Kuika AI asks a few quick decisions and then shows the plan: the screens, the data and the user flow. Check two things in particular:
- The data. Each important column of your sheet should have a home. A column that repeats the same few values, like a region or a category, often works better as its own list.
- The roles. Make sure each group of people from step 1 appears.
Ask for changes in the chat, then press Create the app.
Step 4: Bring your rows over
- Save the sheet as CSV. In Excel or Google Sheets, save or download the tab you need as a CSV file. Do this once per tab that becomes a table.
- Open the Database view in Kuika AI and pick the table you want to fill.
- Choose Import CSV and select your file. Say whether the first row is a header.
- Match the columns. For each column in the table, pick the matching column from your file, or skip it. A preview of the first rows shows what will be written.
- Run the import. Kuika AI tells you how many rows were imported and lists any rows with problems, such as text in a number column, so you can fix them in the file and try again.
The preview's data is yours alone and is kept in your browser, with backups on the server. That makes it a safe place to try the app with real rows. When you publish to the Test environment, Test starts with its own separate database.
Step 5: Replace the weekly chores
Spreadsheet work often hides a routine: a Friday summary, a Monday reminder, a monthly export. Ask the app to do it.
Every Friday at 16:00, email the finance team a summary of shipped orders this week per customer. On the first day of each month, export last month's orders to a CSV file.
You can also ask for a dashboard with charts and totals, or a printable PDF report designed in the Reports view.
Step 6: Share it and retire the sheet
Show the app to the people who used the sheet. Press Share and copy the link. Under the share options, "Visitors start with" lets you choose between your latest data and empty data. Each visitor gets their own copy, so nothing they do changes yours.
When the team is ready to work in one place, publish the app to the Test environment from the Publish menu. Everyone who opens that address works on the same data. If someone still needs the numbers in a spreadsheet, Export CSV in the Database view downloads the rows shown in the table, and a scheduled export can send the full list regularly.
Common questions
Can I upload an Excel file to Kuika AI?
Yes. Attach the file to your prompt or to a chat message. Kuika AI reads every sheet, including formula results, and can answer questions about the data or build an app around it.
Do my spreadsheet rows end up in the app automatically?
No. The attached file shapes the app. To load the rows, save the sheet as CSV and use Import CSV on the table in the Database view, where you match the columns before importing.
Can I still get my data back into Excel?
Yes. Export CSV in the Database view downloads the rows shown in a table as a file that opens in Excel. For a complete, regular export, ask Kuika AI for a scheduled export in the chat.