Asking questions
Tables
When you need the rows themselves rather than a summary of them, and what you can do with a table once it is on screen.
A chart tells you the shape of the answer. A table tells you exactly which rows made it. Ask for a table when you need to act on individual records: the customers to call, the invoices to chase, the products to reorder.
It is also how you check Belta. If a figure surprises you, asking for the same question as a table shows you the rows it counted.
Getting a table
- 1Press Widgets beside the composer and choose Table.
- 2Ask your question. Say which columns you care about if you only want a few, otherwise Belta decides what is relevant.
Working with the table
- Click a column heading to sort by it. Click again to reverse the order.
- Each column has a filter, so you can narrow to one branch or one status without asking again.
- The Search box above the table filters across every column at once.
- Drag the edge of a heading to widen a column whose values are being cut off.
- Long results are paginated. Ten rows are shown at a time by default, and you can switch to 20, 50 or 100.
- Export CSV downloads exactly what you are looking at, filters and sorting included.
- Full screen gives a wide table the whole window, from the Saved Tables page once you have saved it.
Asking for a better table
Narrow it in the next message rather than in the filters if you want the change to stick: only this quarter, only the branches in the west, add the sales representative's name, sorted by amount owed.
If a table is too wide to read, ask for fewer columns. Belta includes what it thinks is relevant, and telling it the four columns you actually need produces something you can send to someone.
Saving a table
Press Save on the table. It goes to the Saved Tables page, where it can be pinned to your dashboard, and it remembers the question that produced it. Refreshing it there re-runs the query, so a saved table of overdue invoices shows today's overdue invoices, not last month's.
Table or Excel file?
A table is for looking at and filtering inside DataBelta, and it stays live. An Excel file is for sending to someone who does not have an account, and it is a snapshot. If you want both, ask twice.