Spreadsheet to App
Turn the Sheet Your Team Shares into a Real App
Export your spreadsheet as a CSV, attach it to a prompt, and say who uses it and what each person needs to do. Fabricate reads the columns and builds a web app with its own database, sign-in and forms, so the data stops living in a file everyone edits at once.
- No coding required
- Database included
- Publish on Pro
The sheet has outgrown itself
Several people edit the same file, someone sorts one column and not the others, and anyone with the link can see every row. A spreadsheet does not know who is looking at it or what they are allowed to change.
An app built on your columns
Fabricate turns the columns into database tables, the rows into records, and the way your team uses the sheet into screens: a form to add a row, a list each person sees filtered to their own work, and sign-in so people only see and change what they should.
Start from an example
Pick one and the builder opens with its description filled in, or open a finished template and make it yours. Change any word before you build.
Job tracker for a field crew
The office assigns jobs, and each crew member sees only their own list.
Turn the attached job tracker spreadsheet into an app. Office staff add jobs and assign them to a crew member. Each crew member signs in on their phone, sees only the jobs assigned to them for today, and marks each one done with a short note.
Stock list for a small shop
Counts, reorder levels and a list of what is running low.
Turn the attached stock spreadsheet into an inventory app. Staff sign in, change counts when stock arrives or sells, and see a list of items that have dropped below their reorder level. Keep a history of every count change and who made it.
Client list with follow-ups
Who to call this week, and what was said last time.
Turn the attached client spreadsheet into a simple client app. Each row is a client. Let me add a note after each call, set a follow-up date, and open a page that lists the clients due for a follow-up this week.
- Export the sheet as CSV, not .xlsx, and attach it; the AI builds the tables from the columns
- Say who uses the app and what each person may do; that decides the sign-in and the screens
- The data moves into the app's own database and does not stay synced with the sheet
- Ask for an import screen to load the full file, and an export button to get it back out
What changes when the sheet becomes an app
Tables from your columns
The AI reads the header row and the sample rows to decide what each field holds: text, a number, a date, or one choice from a short list. Values that repeat on many rows, such as a customer name, can become their own table so they are typed once.
Sign-in and roles
Say who uses the app and what each person may do. Staff who should see only their own rows get a sign-in that enforces it, instead of a hidden column in a shared file.
Forms instead of cells
Adding a row becomes a form with the right inputs, required fields and checks, so a date column can only hold a date and a status can only be one of its options.
Made for the phone in hand
The screens fit a phone as well as a laptop, so a crew member can update a job on site instead of at a desk later.
The data still comes out
Ask for an export button on any list, and people can download the rows as a CSV file that opens in Excel or Google Sheets.
Change it by asking
Add a column, a status, a report or a new screen by describing it in the chat. The database and the screens change together.
How to turn a spreadsheet into an app
- 1
Export the sheet as CSV
In Google Sheets choose File, Download, Comma-separated values. In Excel choose File, Save As, and pick CSV. Fabricate reads CSV, TSV and plain text files up to 5 MB, not .xlsx workbooks.
- 2
Attach it and say who uses it
Drop the file into the chat and describe the people: who adds rows, who only reads them, and what each person needs to see first. A sample of a few dozen rows is enough for the AI to understand the data.
- 3
Try it as each person
Use the preview the way each kind of user would. Ask for changes in plain words until the screens match how your team works.
- 4
Load the rest and go live
Ask for an import screen, load the full spreadsheet through it, then publish the app on Pro and share the link.
When a Spreadsheet Should Become an App
A spreadsheet is the right tool for one person working with numbers. It starts to strain when it becomes a shared system: several people editing the same rows, a column that means different things to different people, a tab nobody is supposed to touch, and a link that shows everything to whoever has it. The signs are familiar. People keep their own copies, someone pastes over a formula, and the question of which version is current has more than one answer.
Turning it into an app changes three things. Each kind of record gets a fixed structure, so a date is always a date and a status is always one of its options. Each person signs in and sees what is theirs, so a crew member sees today's jobs and the office sees all of them. And every change goes through a form or a button, so the app can check it, record who made it and when, and refuse a change that would break something.
What a CSV export gives the AI is the shape of your data: the column names, the kinds of values in them and how they repeat. What it cannot give is how your team works, and that part comes from your words. "Office staff assign jobs, crew members only see their own, nobody deletes a finished job" is the sentence that decides the sign-in, the screens and the rules, so it is worth writing carefully.
Keep the spreadsheet when the work is one person's analysis, quick number crunching, or a list that changes shape every week. Move to an app when the same structure is used by several people every day, when some of them should not see or change everything, or when the sheet is mostly opened on a phone.
Spreadsheets people turn into apps
- Job and work-order trackers - Assign work and see what is done
- Inventory and stock lists - Counts, reorder levels and history
- Client and lead lists - Notes, follow-ups and who owns each one
- Sign-up and booking sheets - A form people fill in themselves
- Equipment registers - Who has what, and since when
- Staff and volunteer rotas - Shifts each person can see
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I turn an Excel file into an app?
- Yes, by saving it as CSV first. Fabricate reads CSV, TSV and plain text attachments, not .xlsx workbooks. Save each sheet you need as its own CSV, attach them together, and say how they relate, such as "each order belongs to one customer".
- Does the app stay in sync with my Google Sheet?
- No. The data moves into the app's own database, and the app becomes the place your team edits it. If the sheet itself has to stay the place people type, a tool that builds screens on top of a live Google Sheet fits better than Fabricate.
- How big can the spreadsheet be?
- One attached file can be up to 5 MB. The AI only needs the columns and a sample of rows to build the app, so attach a sample and ask for an import screen to load the full file into the app afterwards.
- What happens to my formulas?
- A CSV keeps the values, not the formulas. Describe each calculation in the prompt, such as "total is quantity times price" or "flag jobs open longer than seven days", and the app works it out in code, where nobody can paste over it by accident.
- Can people still get the data out as a spreadsheet?
- Yes. Ask for an export button on any list, and the app downloads its rows as a CSV file that opens in Excel or Google Sheets.
- Who can see the data?
- Every new app starts private on every plan, and you choose who can open it when you publish. Inside the app, the sign-in and roles you describe decide which rows each person sees. The file you attach is read by the AI that builds the app.
- Do I need to know how to code?
- No. You describe who uses the app and what they do, then check the result in the preview. The app is React and TypeScript code, and on Pro and Max you can download it or push it to GitHub.
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Attach your CSV, say who uses it, and try a working app with sign-in and its own database in a preview. Start free.