Add a data source to a Zapier Central bot – Zapier

Public preview

Zapier Central is a product in public preview. It’s available for use, but it's experimental, still in active development and may change. Learn more about [data safety with Central](https://help.zapier.com/hc/en-us/articles/24687564925453).

Data sources are documents that your bot can use to complete tasks or answer questions. The bot will use any data source you provide, like a Google spreadsheet, to help generate a response. Use them to provide the bot with information specific to your business or use case. When you add a data source, the bot can answer questions that are related to the content of the data source, such as giving you an average of all values on a spreadsheet or a summary of a text. 

## Add a data source

1.  From the bot Chat screen, click **Data sources**.
2.  Click **\+ Add data source**.
3.  In the dialog box, select the **app** for the data source from the available options.
4.  Select an existing connection for the app. 
    *   You can [create a new connection](https://help.zapier.com/hc/en-us/articles/8496258785421-Connect-your-app-accounts-to-Zapier) by clicking the **Settings icon** . 
5.  In the next dropdown field, select a **document** to use as the data source. 
    *   After you select a document, it will have the label "Synced".
6.  Click **Add data source**.

![alternatetext](https://cdn.zappy.app/3b729b61e808c2db6a2d08401fe11f51.png)

## Data source synchronization

When you add a data source, Zapier will sync it with the bot immediately. After that, it will sync regularly to retrieve new data. If you made changes and want the bot to catch up before the next sync:

1.  From the bot Chat screen, click **Data sources**.
2.  Click the **three dot icon** beside the data source you want to sync with your bot.
3.  Click **Sync now**.

![](https://cdn.zappy.app/6e1554d7b137e4d59752ca3716175cc9.png)

## Remove a data source

1.  From the bot Chat screen, click the **data sources bar** that appears above the messaging field.
2.  Click the **three dot icon** beside the data source you want to sync with your bot.
3.  Click **Remove from bot**.

## Limitations for data sources 

### Google Docs

*   The bot can only sync text. 
*   **Maximum synced words:** 96,000.

### Google Sheets

*   The spreadsheet must have headers. 
*   **Maximum synced columns:** 26
*   **Maximum synced worksheets:** 20 (shared across all synced spreadsheets)
*   **Maximum synced records:** 50,000

### Notion

*   The bot can only use pages.
*   **Maximum synced words:** 96,000.

### Airtable

*   To sync when changes are made, Airtable tables must have a column of type "Last Modified Time". Otherwise, each table will sync once a day.
*   **Maximum synced columns:** 26
*   **Maximum synced tables:** 20 

### Zapier Tables

*   **Maximum synced columns:** 26

## Automate more tasks with data sources

When you use data sources with your bot, it can help streamline your work further. Here are some examples of tasks your bots can perform:

*   **Lookup records that match a given criteria**
    *   Which of our Italian customers increased their spending in the last week?
*   **Aggregate data from a spreadsheet**
    *   What are the average sales for each salesperson by day?
    *   What percentage of shipments were delayed in 2024?
    *   What was the total weight shipped each week by mode of transportation?
*   **Rank records**
    *   Who are our top 10 customers, based on revenue?
*   **Create a time series analysis**
    *   Are there any seasonal trends for our top-selling product? 
*   **Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)**
    *   Summarize key statistics (mean, median, standard deviation, etc.) for last year's sales.
    *   Generate a frequency table for lead generation for the past year.
*   **Perform general math computations**
    *   What was the total sales amount for December?

## Provide feedback and get help

Submit a feature request, provide feedback on existing features, or get help [from the Zapier Central team](http://central.zapier.app/). You can also discuss Central with other users on [Zapier's Early Access Program Slack](https://join.slack.com/t/zapierearlyaccess/shared_invite/zt-2dqgxv9rn-ECeO5uS~n~27gk5hd91pPA).

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