Learn · Analysis · Lesson 1 of 7
Add a table and read its numbers
You willPaste a table from Excel or open a file, then read its count, median, mean, highest and lowest at a glance.
Time2 min
Why it mattersA table of a few hundred rows hides its story. The summary strip says in one line what is typical and what stands out.
Try it in Plotlay → Opens Plotlay with this lesson beside it. Nothing to install.
Steps
- Choose Analysis in the workspace switch at the top (Alt+5).
- Choose + Add a table. Paste cells copied from Excel or Google Sheets, or choose Open a CSV or Excel file. The first row is the headings.
- Check the line under the box: each column and what it reads as (number, text or date). Give the table a name and say where it is from, then choose Add the table.
- Read the summary strip: Count, Median, Mean, Lowest and Highest with what they are, and the Total.
- Click a number column’s heading to summarise that column instead.
- Choose Copy for the summary as a sentence to paste into a message, or Copy numbers for a spreadsheet.
Tips
- Numbers written as 1,234 or $12 or 45% read as numbers. A column called year of whole years reads as years.
- The table is kept with the project and syncs with it. Hide the map gives a table with no map the whole width.
- New figures next year? The table’s menu has New data (paste or a file): it keeps the table’s name, source and everything that uses it.
Common mistakes
- Pasting a table with a title row above the headings: the first non-empty row is read as the headings, so delete the title first.
- Codes such as 0123 read as text on purpose, so their leading zeros are kept. They are not summed.
Words in this lesson
- Workspace
- Site, Building, Capture or Documents in the top bar. A workspace changes which tools come first; it never hides anything in the project.
Related lessons
Group and filter a summaryCompare groups side by side and count how many are over or under a value, for only the rows you choose.3 minSummarise a data layer over timeRead a coloured data layer’s numbers beside the map, and watch them change as the time slider moves.3 min
Steps checked in the app on 8 November 2026.