AI Advanced Prompting for Practical Data Capture

Do you ever need to capture data on the screen from a website or report in order to keep track of on a regular basis, but the site has no button to download the report?   Instead, you try scraping the screen (which in itself is a pain) and pasting the data into excel.  You do this over and over trying to capture the data for analysis later.  Only to find out later that you have to rearrange thigs because you didn’t keep the columns exactly the same, or the sorting is different and trying to compare two files becomes a nightmare.

Well, to combat this problem there is a simple solution using ChatGPT and Copilot.  Here’s how it goes:

Step 1

Using the Edge Browser, go to the page where the report data is being displayed.  Click the edge icon and it to make a file out of the table on the screen that you can download. I prefer Excel but you can use any data file you like (csv, xml, etc.):

Use Copilot to scrape the data and download to a local file

“Make an excel file from the data in the table on this screen labeled Keywords that I can download”

Copilot will then display the data in its own table, as well as a link you can use to download directly.  Super cool.

Step 2

Then, to compare these files, I use the paid version of ChatGPT.  The same can be done with Copilot Pro.

The idea is to train the AI by walking through an analysis, then ask for a prompt we can use in the future.  This is only available in the paid version of ChatGPT, as the free version doesn’t remember who you are or your prompts between sessions.

When it gives me the usual long-winded prompt, I then ask it to give me a shorter phrase.  Here’s an example:

Using ChatGPT to compare columns between two files

“Tell me if position values (column D) changed for any row with the same keyword (column A)”

Response:

[table display with the differences and the following statement:]

I’ve identified changes in position values for specific keywords. You can review the updated table to see which keywords had position shifts. Let me know if you need any further analysis!

Here I could continue on, asking it to compare more things, even things not on the report, like external data.
When I’m done with the analysis, I then say to it:

“Excellent.  Please give me a prompt to use if I need you to do this same analysis in the future.”

And the reply is usually something lengthy like:

Yes! If you provide two more files in the future, I can run the same analysis for you. Just upload the files and say something like:

Prompt: “Compare these two Excel files and identify differences in sheet names, columns, and row data. Also, check if any keywords have changed positions between the two files.”

That will ensure I perform the same detailed comparison, including:
✅ Checking for sheet name differences
✅ Identifying missing or added columns
✅ Finding rows that are different
✅ Tracking any position changes for keywords

Whenever you’re ready, just upload the files, and I’ll take care of the rest!

Step 3

Shorten the Prompt

That’s a mouthful.  So I tell it:

“Please make a shortcut phrase for that prompt”

Response:

OK!  You can use a shortcut phrase like:  “Run the keyword position comparison on these files.”

That will signal me to:
✅ Compare sheet names
✅ Check for missing or added columns
✅ Identify row differences
✅ Track any keyword position changes

Just upload the files and use that phrase, and I’ll run the full analysis for you.

Much better.  I can even remember that that.

Now we have an easy way to download the files via Copilot and do the analysis via ChatGPT.  Painless!

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