Turn Your Spreadsheet Into an Intelligent Database - learn more...

💡 Why You're Here

You already use spreadsheets to run your business. Maybe you track:

  • Assets (laptops, vehicles, equipment)
  • Products (stock levels, suppliers, pricing)
  • People (employees, contractors, clients)
  • HR data (training, qualifications, renewals)
  • Projects (tasks, budgets, timelines)

Spreadsheets are brilliant: flexible, familiar, and visual. They let you build fast without code.

But spreadsheets were designed for individual use, not connected data, automation, or scale.

Sooner or later, every spreadsheet hits its limits:

  • Copying the same data across multiple sheets
  • Broken formulas when you insert a row
  • Slow load times on large files
  • Lost data from overwrites or version conflicts
  • Struggling to connect to web apps or other systems

If that sounds familiar, you're already halfway to thinking like a database user. You just need better tools.

⚙️ What SoSheets Does

SoSheets bridges the gap between spreadsheets and real databases. It gives you the power of MySQL without the pain of learning it.

Behind the scenes:

  • You upload your Excel file. Each sheet becomes a table in MySQL.
  • SoSheets analyzes your data automatically. It finds relationships like customer → orders → invoices without setup.
  • When you ask a question, AI writes the SQL query instantly and safely — never exposing your private data.
  • You get real answers: clean, accurate results shown in a spreadsheet-style view.

✅ No SQL required. ✅ No setup headaches. ✅ Just clarity and control.

You can still think in spreadsheets, but now your data has structure, speed, and integrity.

🔑 Why This Guide Exists

You don't need to know MySQL to use SoSheets. It's automatic. But understanding how databases work makes you far more powerful with data.

This guide was built to:

  • Show how databases solve the problems Excel can't
  • Help you understand what SoSheets does behind the scenes
  • Give you tools to think like a database pro (without becoming one)

Every lesson is short, practical, and written in plain English. No theory. No fluff. Just what matters.

By the end, you'll know:

  • What a database really is (and why every business needs one)
  • The five SQL commands that power almost every app
  • How SoSheets translates your natural language into SQL
  • How PHP and MySQL keep your data safe and consistent

Lessons You'll Learn

1. The 5 SQL Commands That Run the World

Learn the five commands that power nearly every app: SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and JOIN — and how SoSheets uses them behind the scenes.

2. Smart Filtering and Sorting

See how WHERE, ORDER BY, and LIMIT create clarity and control — the foundation of clean data queries.

3. Relationships and Joins

Understand how tables connect, why relationships matter, and how SoSheets finds them automatically.

4. Data Safety: The PDO Way

How SoSheets keeps your data secure using PDO, preventing injection attacks and corruption.

5. Thinking in Databases

Shift from "cells and formulas" to "tables and logic." Learn the mindset that keeps data organized and scalable.

6. Querying with AI

Discover how SoSheets translates your natural questions into precise SQL — no code, no stress.

7. Automation and Reports

How structured data enables live dashboards, daily reports, and instant answers without manual work.

8. Maintenance and Optimization

Keeping data fast, tidy, and reliable — how to think about indexing, cleanup, and growth.

9. The Big Picture

Bringing it all together — from spreadsheets to AI-driven insights.

Appendix — Quick Reference & Real-World Use

Your short SQL cheat sheet plus real business examples that show databases in action.

🧱 Lesson 1: The 5 SQL Commands That Run the World

💬 Don't worry if SQL looks technical — you'll never need to type a single command yourself. SoSheets does it all for you.

🎯 The Goal

Learn the five commands that make every database work, and see how SoSheets quietly handles them while you just click, type, or ask questions.

1️⃣ CREATE — Build Structure

CREATE TABLE employees (
  id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
  name VARCHAR(100),
  department VARCHAR(100),
  start_date DATE
);

Plain English meaning: Create a new table, like a clean worksheet, with named columns and data types.

What SoSheets does: When you upload an Excel file, SoSheets runs its own CREATE TABLE logic for every sheet. Each tab becomes a real table in MySQL, structured column by column.

✅ You do not see it happen, but this is when your spreadsheet becomes a database.

2️⃣ INSERT — Add Data

INSERT INTO employees (name, department, start_date)
VALUES ('Mia Khan', 'Finance', '2023-01-15');

Plain English meaning: Add a new record or row into the table.

What SoSheets does: When you upload or edit a record, SoSheets automatically issues INSERT commands. You do not need to write syntax. Just click Add Row or import a file.

3️⃣ SELECT — Read Data

SELECT name, department FROM employees WHERE department = 'Finance';

Plain English meaning: Show specific columns and filter the results.

What SoSheets does: Every time you search, sort, or ask a question in natural language, SoSheets AI builds a SELECT query for you. You see the answer, not the SQL.

✅ SoSheets thinks like a database but speaks like a human.

4️⃣ UPDATE — Change Data

UPDATE employees
SET department = 'Accounting'
WHERE id = 3;

Plain English meaning: Change existing rows safely.

What SoSheets does: When you edit a cell in the SoSheets grid or adjust a value in a form, the system issues a secure UPDATE behind the scenes using PDO.

✅ Every cell edit equals one clean and safe UPDATE.

5️⃣ DELETE — Remove Data

DELETE FROM employees WHERE id = 5;

Plain English meaning: Remove a row or group of rows.

What SoSheets does: When you delete a record from your sheet view, SoSheets runs a DELETE command safely with confirmation to prevent mistakes. Your visible action triggers the same command a database engineer would write manually.

🧩 How It All Connects

Every action in SoSheets, including imports, searches, filters, edits, and reports, uses one of these five commands.

Action SQL Command SoSheets Action
Create CREATE or INSERT Upload a sheet or add a record
Read SELECT View, search, or query data
Update UPDATE Edit a record
Delete DELETE Remove a record

SoSheets automates CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) with AI-generated SQL. You get all the reliability of MySQL with the simplicity of a spreadsheet.

✅ Takeaway

These five commands are the foundation of every modern data system. SoSheets runs them for you safely, instantly, and invisibly, so you can focus on insights instead of syntax.

🔍 Lesson 2: Smart Filtering and Sorting

💬 Filtering sounds like coding, but it's really just asking for what you want — SoSheets handles the SQL while you stay in control.

🎯 The Goal

Understand how SoSheets filters, searches, and sorts your data, and how MySQL quietly powers it all behind the scenes.

1️⃣ Filtering Data — The WHERE Clause

Every time you type in SoSheets' search bar or ask something like "Show me all products under $50," you are really using SQL's WHERE clause.

Behind the scenes, SoSheets builds something like:

SELECT * FROM products
WHERE price < 50;

Plain English meaning: Only show rows where the price is below 50.

SoSheets turns your natural question into a clean database filter instantly.

2️⃣ Searching Text — The LIKE Clause

When you search for something like "Find customers with 'smith' in their name," SoSheets creates this query:

SELECT * FROM customers
WHERE name LIKE '%smith%';

Plain English meaning: Find any customer whose name contains "smith."

That is how SoSheets performs flexible, human-style searching without you worrying about upper or lowercase letters, spaces, or punctuation.

3️⃣ Sorting — The ORDER BY Clause

Whenever you click a column header in SoSheets to sort alphabetically or numerically, MySQL takes over.

Example for A to Z sorting:

SELECT * FROM employees
ORDER BY name ASC;

Example for newest first:

SELECT * FROM employees
ORDER BY start_date DESC;

SoSheets translates your click into SQL in real time. You stay focused on your data while MySQL handles the sorting logic.

4️⃣ Limiting Results — The LIMIT Clause

When you scroll through large sheets or move between pages, SoSheets only loads what you need.

Behind the scenes, MySQL runs:

SELECT * FROM orders
ORDER BY created_at DESC
LIMIT 20 OFFSET 0;

Plain English meaning: Show 20 rows at a time, starting from the first record.

This is why SoSheets stays fast even when you upload huge files.

✅ Takeaway

Filtering, searching, and sorting are the core of working with data. SoSheets uses MySQL's WHERE, LIKE, ORDER BY, and LIMIT commands automatically so you can get instant answers without writing a single line of SQL.

🔗 Lesson 3: Relationships and Joins

💬 If the word "JOIN" sounds complicated, think of it as SoSheets connecting dots for you. No code, no chaos — just linked data that makes sense.

🎯 The Goal

Understand how databases connect data across tables, and how SoSheets builds those connections automatically when you upload a spreadsheet.

1️⃣ The Problem With Spreadsheets

In Excel, you might have:

  • Customers
  • Orders
  • Products

You connect them with formulas such as:

=VLOOKUP(customer_id, Customers!A:B, 2, FALSE)

It works for a while, until someone renames a column, adds rows, or copies the sheet elsewhere.

Excel is flat. Each sheet stands on its own with no real structure between them.

2️⃣ What Databases Do Differently

Databases use keys to define relationships between tables. These keys are unique identifiers that connect related data.

Table Key Description
customers id Each customer's unique ID
orders customer_id The customer who made the order
products product_id The product being sold

These keys form reliable links that never break, no matter how big or complex the data becomes.

3️⃣ The Magic of the JOIN

When you want to see connected data, MySQL uses a JOIN.

Example:

SELECT orders.id, customers.name, orders.total
FROM orders
JOIN customers ON orders.customer_id = customers.id;

Plain English meaning: Combine data from two tables wherever the customer IDs match.

SoSheets does this automatically. You never have to write a JOIN or fix a broken link again.

4️⃣ How SoSheets Builds Relationships Automatically

When you upload your spreadsheet:

  • Each sheet becomes its own table.
  • SoSheets scans for columns ending with _id or matching names across sheets.
  • It records these links in a hidden table called nlq_sheet_links.
  • When you ask a question, SoSheets uses those stored links to build JOINs automatically.

Everything stays connected even if you change the order, names, or content of your sheets.

✅ Takeaway

Relationships turn a group of spreadsheets into a single, organized system. SoSheets detects and maintains those links automatically. No more VLOOKUPs, no broken formulas, and no manual joins. Your data stays consistent, fast, and ready for real insights.

🛡️ Lesson 4: Data Safety (The PDO Way)

💬 Security might sound like a developer thing, but SoSheets already uses PDO to protect every click and edit you make.

🎯 The Goal

Learn how SoSheets communicates with MySQL safely and why it uses PDO, which stands for PHP Data Objects.

⚙️ The PDO Difference

PDO separates your SQL logic from your data.

Example:

$stmt = $pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = :email");
$stmt->execute(['email' => $user_email]);

Plain English meaning: The SQL query and the actual data are kept apart. MySQL only receives the safe version with the value already protected.

✅ No injection
✅ No broken queries
✅ No accidental data loss

SoSheets uses PDO for every operation behind the scenes, whether you are adding, editing, or deleting data.

✅ Takeaway

SoSheets runs on PDO because it is secure, fast, and reliable. It prevents data leaks, protects every query, and keeps your MySQL database safe for everyone who uses it.

🧠 Lesson 5: Thinking in Databases

💬 You don't have to "be technical" to think like a database. SoSheets already builds clean structure while you just upload and explore.

🎯 The Goal

Learn how to design clean, logical tables that make sense to both humans and MySQL, just like SoSheets does automatically when you upload a spreadsheet.

1️⃣ From Spreadsheets to Structure

In Excel, you might have one large sheet with everything mixed together — names, dates, amounts, and notes all in one place. That setup works for a while but soon leads to duplication, confusion, and broken formulas.

Databases fix this by splitting your data into smaller, focused tables. Each table holds one clear concept and connects to others through shared IDs.

2️⃣ One Table = One Concept

When in doubt, ask yourself: "Is this describing a person, a thing, or a transaction?" If the answer is more than one, it belongs in separate tables.

For example:

  • A Customers table for people
  • A Products table for what you sell
  • An Orders table for what happens between them

This is how data stays clean, consistent, and easy to expand.

3️⃣ How SoSheets Designs for You

SoSheets handles this work automatically.

  • It reads your sheet names and builds logical tables.
  • It detects patterns such as IDs and foreign keys.
  • It links related data behind the scenes using its internal map.

You upload. SoSheets does the architecture.

It is like having a professional database designer working for you instantly.

✅ Takeaway

Good database design is about clarity, not complexity. Each table represents one concept, and IDs connect them cleanly. SoSheets automates that structure for you, turning scattered spreadsheets into organized, scalable data systems.

🤖 Lesson 6: Querying with AI

💬 Ever wished your spreadsheet could understand plain English? That's exactly what SoSheets does — no SQL required.

🎯 The Goal

Understand how SoSheets converts your natural questions into real SQL queries behind the scenes.

⚙️ Example

You type: "Show me all orders from the last 7 days."

SoSheets instantly builds:

SELECT orders.id, customers.name, orders.total, orders.date
FROM orders
JOIN customers ON orders.customer_id = customers.id
WHERE orders.date >= DATE_SUB(CURDATE(), INTERVAL 7 DAY)
ORDER BY orders.date DESC;

You never see this SQL. You just get the answer displayed in your familiar spreadsheet view.

✅ Takeaway

SoSheets uses AI to translate human language into precise SQL automatically and safely. You think in words, it thinks in logic. That is how your plain question becomes a structured, accurate query in seconds.

📊 Lesson 7: Automation and Reports

💬 If you can read a spreadsheet, you can read a live dashboard. SoSheets keeps reports updated while you focus on decisions.

🎯 The Goal

Learn how to turn your queries into live, updating dashboards that stay accurate automatically.

⚙️ Example

Every SQL query can become a live report.

SELECT department, COUNT(*) AS total_staff
FROM employees
GROUP BY department;

SoSheets converts that query into interactive widgets that refresh on their own whenever your data changes.

You can track totals, averages, trends, or KPIs without manually reloading anything.

✅ Takeaway

No refresh buttons. No version chaos. SoSheets keeps your dashboards live, your insights accurate, and your decisions in sync with real data.

🧹 Lesson 8: Maintenance and Optimization

💬 Keeping data healthy isn't about coding — it's about simple habits. SoSheets quietly handles the hard parts behind the scenes.

🧱 Keep Data Organized

Each table should serve one clear purpose, such as:

  • employees – who works for you
  • projects – what they work on
  • tasks – what gets done

This separation keeps everything tidy and reduces errors.

⚡ Use Indexes for Speed

Indexes make lookups lightning fast. Example:

CREATE INDEX idx_email ON employees(email);

SoSheets automatically adds smart indexes behind the scenes to optimize your searches and queries.

💾 Backup Regularly

Always protect your data. A simple backup command looks like this:

mysqldump -u root -p your_database > backup.sql

SoSheets manages backups safely and efficiently, ensuring your data is never lost.

🌍 Lesson 9: The Big Picture

💬 By now, you understand what's really happening — and it's simpler than it looks. SoSheets turns technical power into clarity and calm.

🧭 The Idea

SoSheets exists because people want answers, not syntax.

It turns Excel chaos into structured clarity by automatically building databases and letting you query them in plain English.

⚙️ How It Works

✅ Upload your Excel file
✅ SoSheets builds a MySQL database
✅ Ask questions naturally
✅ Get safe, accurate answers

You never need to think about tables or SQL again, yet you still get the full power of a database.

✅ Takeaway

You now understand what happens under the hood. SoSheets is the bridge between human thinking and structured data — combining simplicity, safety, and intelligence in one clean system.

📘 Appendix: Quick Reference & Real-World Use

(Your shortcut to confidence with MySQL and SoSheets)

🔹 SQL Cheat Sheet

Action SQL Command
Create a table CREATE TABLE table_name (...);
Add data INSERT INTO table_name (...) VALUES (...);
Read data SELECT * FROM table_name;
Update data UPDATE table_name SET column = value WHERE id = ...;
Delete data DELETE FROM table_name WHERE id = ...;

🔹 Common Business Uses

Use Case Table Example What SoSheets Automates
Track staff qualifications employees, training AI links staff to course completions
Asset tracking assets, locations Auto-updates when items move or expire
Inventory products, stock Real-time quantity summaries
HR employees, roles, departments Live reports of headcount and turnover
Vehicles or equipment fleet, maintenance Expiry reminders and usage trends

🔹 Top 5 SoSheets Advantages

  • No SQL knowledge needed — the AI handles it.
  • Data stored safely in a proper database.
  • Queries, charts, and reports generated automatically.
  • Works with real business data, not toy examples.
  • Turns spreadsheet chaos into structured clarity.

🧩 Final Word

💬 You don't have to be technical to master your data. If you can think logically, you can run SoSheets.

You don't have to abandon Excel — it's still great for what it does.

But when your data needs to connect, scale, or report itself, a database is the right foundation.

With SoSheets, you get that foundation without needing to learn code — just clarity, control, and confidence.