# Importing data — through Petra

> Hand Petra the file in chat — she reads it, proposes the import, and lands it with your approval.

Source: https://geodb.io/guide/topic/import_petra/ · Category: Getting data in
The second door for data is a conversation. Open Petra — the diamond in the
bottom corner of any page — and drop your file straight into the chat.

## How a chat import goes

1. **She reads the file.** Headers, a sample of rows, coordinates, lab
   formats — and tells you what she thinks it is, in plain words.
2. **She proposes.** Which data type, how your columns map, what looks odd
   (a date column that parses two ways, a hole ID that doesn't exist yet).
   You talk it through — "those depths are in feet", "skip the last two
   columns" — and she adjusts.
3. **You approve, she lands it.** Anything that writes to your database
   shows you an approval card first. Nothing is saved behind your back.

## When to choose the chat over the magic importer

- The file is **messy** — stray header rows, merged cells, two tables on
  one sheet, a lab certificate PDF.
- You want to **check before committing** — "how many of these holes
  already exist?" is a one-line question in chat.
- You have **a pile of mixed files** — hand her a ZIP and she'll work
  through it file by file, asking only when genuinely unsure. Batch
  imports run in the background and report as they go — watch it live on
  the canvas, or ask her how it went.

For a clean, obvious CSV, the magic importer's wizard is just as fast —
use whichever fits the moment. Both roads end in the same validated
import; the chat is not a side door around the checks.