Formula AI is an AI-powered assistant built into the calculated column editor. Instead of writing formulas manually, you can describe what you want in plain language, and the AI writes the formula for you.
Formula AI understands Browse AI's formula syntax, your table columns, and your row data. It can handle everything from simple data cleaning to complex conditional logic. No formula knowledge required.
How to use Formula AI
✅ To use Formula AI, you need an approved robot with at least one successful extraction. To learn how to create and approve a robot, check out our guide here.
Go to your robot from the dashboard, and click Tables.
Click the + button or the add calculated column button in the top-right corner of the table. The New calculated column panel will open.
Under Formula, you'll see two fields:
The AI prompt field, with a ✨ sparkle icon and the placeholder "Describe the formula to generate with AI..."
The manual formula field, with the placeholder "Or write your formula here manually..."
Give your column a name in the Column name field at the top.
Click the AI prompt field and describe what you want your formula to do. Then click the submit button (the purple arrow) to generate the formula.
Step 1: Describe what you need
Type a description of what you want your formula to do in plain language. You can see your table's column names listed in the left panel for reference, so you know exactly what to mention in your prompt.
Example prompts:
"Clean up pricing data to remove text"
"Extract the domain name from the URL column"
"If the stock quantity is greater than 10, label it 'In Stock'. If it's between 1 and 10, label it 'Low Stock'. Otherwise, label it 'Out of Stock'."
"Calculate the discount percentage between the original price and the sale price"
"Combine the first name and last name columns with a space between them"
When you're done press ENTER or click the arrow button.
Step 2: Preview the generated formula
After you submit your prompt, Formula AI generates a formula and inserts it into the formula field with syntax highlighting so you can read the logic at a glance.
Below the formula, you'll see an Example results line showing a live preview of the output using your actual table data. For example: "223.97", "410.44", "224.37". This lets you verify the formula is working correctly before saving.
📖 The example results are evaluated against your actual row data in real time, so what you see is what you'll get when you save.
Step 3: Refine with follow-ups
If the formula isn't quite right, you don't need to start over. After the first generation, the AI prompt field changes to "Describe what should change...". Type a follow-up message and Formula AI will build on what it already generated, keeping the full context of your conversation.
For example, after generating a formula to clean price data, you could follow up with:
"Add a dollar sign and remove the decimals"
"Also round the result to 2 decimal places"
"Handle cases where the price column is empty"
The formula and example results will update after each follow-up so you can keep iterating until you're satisfied.
Step 4: Save your column
Once you're happy with the formula and the example results look correct, click Add column (the purple button in the top-right corner of the panel).
The new column will appear in your table immediately and will apply to all existing and future extracted data.
Tips for getting the best results
💡 The more specific your prompt, the better the result. Here are some tips to help Formula AI understand exactly what you need.
Be specific about your data. Instead of "clean the price", say "remove the dollar sign and commas from the price column and convert it to a number".
Reference column names directly. You can see your available columns in the left panel. Use those names in your prompt so Formula AI knows exactly which data to work with.
Describe edge cases. If some rows might have empty or unexpected values, mention it: "If the price is empty, return 0".
Use follow-ups to iterate. Start simple, then refine. It's often faster than trying to describe everything in one prompt.
Check the example results. Always review the live results preview before saving. Make sure edge cases are handled correctly.
Good to know
Formula AI works with all of Browse AI's supported formula functions. For a full list, see our calculated columns reference guide.
Formula AI generates standard Browse AI formulas, so you can always edit the generated formula by hand in the formula field if needed.
You can also skip Formula AI entirely and write formulas manually by typing directly into the "Or write your formula here manually..." field.
For troubleshooting formula errors, see our troubleshooting guide.