> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://sourcetable.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Public dataset finder

> Find and import publicly available datasets directly into your Sourcetable spreadsheet.

The data finder tool searches the web for publicly available datasets matching your description and imports them directly into your spreadsheet.

## How it works

Select **Public Dataset** mode from the AI chat, or just ask:

* "Find a dataset of US census data by zip code"
* "Get historical S\&P 500 data for the last 20 years"
* "Find a public dataset of global CO2 emissions by country"
* "Import World Bank GDP data for all countries"

The AI uses the `data_finder` tool to locate relevant public datasets, download them, and structure them into your spreadsheet.

## Data sources

The data finder searches across public data repositories including:

* Government open data portals (data.gov, EU Open Data, etc.)
* Academic and research datasets
* Financial data APIs
* International organizations (World Bank, UN, WHO, IMF)
* Open source dataset collections
* Public APIs with freely available data

## Example datasets

| Category         | Examples                                                  |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Demographics** | Census data, population by region, age distribution       |
| **Economics**    | GDP, inflation, unemployment, trade data                  |
| **Finance**      | Stock prices, exchange rates, commodity prices            |
| **Health**       | Disease statistics, hospital data, vaccination rates      |
| **Climate**      | Temperature records, emissions data, weather patterns     |
| **Education**    | School performance, enrollment data, literacy rates       |
| **Sports**       | Player statistics, team records, game results             |
| **Technology**   | GitHub stats, programming language trends, internet usage |

## Workflow

<Steps>
  <Step title="Describe the data you need">
    Be specific about the topic, geographic scope, time period, and granularity.
  </Step>

  <Step title="AI finds and imports">
    The data finder locates a matching dataset and imports it into your spreadsheet.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Analyze">
    Use AI analysis, charts, pivot tables, or formulas to explore the data.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Tips

* **Be specific** — "US median household income by state for 2020-2024" gets better results than "income data"
* **Specify format** — "as a table with columns for country, year, and GDP" helps the AI structure the output
* **Combine datasets** — import multiple datasets and ask the AI to merge them (e.g., GDP + population to calculate per-capita GDP)