Columns and AI

A column decides what every row of a table holds. Some columns you fill by hand, some compute from other columns with a formula, and AI columns read each row's documents (or the internet) and write the answer into every cell, with sources, confidence and a full history. This page covers adding and setting up columns, the AI settings, running and re-running, and what it costs. Every type and its own settings are on Column types.

Before you start

• Adding and editing columns needs edit access to the table.
• Basic, linked and computed columns are free on every plan. AI columns spend your organization's AI credits when they run, and running them needs a paid plan with credits. You can add and set up an AI column without one: "You can add and set up this column now. Running it needs a paid plan."
• Formula columns never cost credits (see Formulas and totals).

Add a column

1. Click Add column in the toolbar, or the + after the last column header. In the record window, Add field adds a column too, but an AI column added there does not run until you run it from the grid.
2. Type the column's name (up to 50 characters). A new column is called New Column until you rename it.
3. Under Field type, pick the type (see The type picker).
4. Fill in the type's settings and, for an AI column, the AI settings below.
5. Click Create.

An empty table shows Add your first column: "A column tells the AI what to find in each document." You can also ask the chat to add columns for you (see AI assistant).

The type picker

Field type opens the list of types, grouped by what they cost:

Search field types… finds a type by name. On the right, an explanation shows what the type looks like and what it is for; Hide explanations switches it off.

Edit a column

Edit column in the column menu (right-click the header), or Column settings after a plain click on the header, opens the same panel with Save instead of Create.

From top to bottom:

1. The name.
2. Field type. You can change the type of a saved column; "Values already in this column are kept, but any that do not fit the new type stop being shown." Changing to a computed type warns "The server fills this type itself. Whatever is in the column now is replaced the first time it computes." A linked records column paired with another table, and a saved sub-sheet column, keep their type.
3. The type's own settings (see Column types).
4. How this column is filled (see below).
5. For AI: the AI settings (see AI settings).
6. Ghost column: keeps the values inside Quanty (see Quanty Ghost).
7. At the bottom: Hide in table (or Hide in this view in a saved view), Delete Column ("Delete this column?"), Cancel and Save.

People with view-only access see the settings marked View only.

How a column is filled

How this column is filled decides who writes the values:

A new Number, choice, Link or Email column starts on By hand; the types in AI fields start on AI. Text, Long text, dates, Checkbox, Person, Phone, Rating, File and Image are always typed by hand; to have the AI write text, use Ask the AI or another AI type. Switching AI off on a column warns: "Turning AI off clears the values it produced in this column. The instruction is deleted too."

AI settings

An AI column has these settings, from top to bottom (some only on some types).

The type's own settings (categories of Classify, the key of Find a field, the date format of Find a date, the schema of Structured data, the sub-columns of a Sub-sheet) are on Column types.

Write the prompt

The prompt tells the AI what to find, in plain words, in any language. A counter shows the length ("1240/20000 characters"); a longer prompt cannot be saved ("The instruction is 21300 characters long, the limit is 20000. Shorten it to save.").

• Type @ to mention another column of the row, for example "Compare @Kwota netto with @Suma z zamówienia". Mentioned columns appear under Inputs, where + add input… adds more and × removes one: "Inputs run first; editing them marks this column stale."
• Under the prompt, Quanty sometimes suggests a better shape: "This answer wants to be a sub-sheet" (Make it a sub-sheet), "This reads like an analysis or audit" (Use Full report), or, when the prompt asks for several fields, offers to create a column for each (Keep one column keeps it as it is).

Choose the model

Model lists the models available to your organization, each with a short trait such as "Top quality", "Balanced", "Fast & cheap" or "Cheapest". Recommended marks Claude Opus 5; older models carry Legacy. Every paid plan sees the same list. A new column shows Automatic in the picker: until you choose a model, Quanty picks one for the column's type. Number, Single choice, Multiple choice, Email, Link, Classify and Find a date run on a cheaper, faster model, every other type on Claude Sonnet 5. Under the picker: "Picked automatically for this column type until you choose a model." Once you choose a model, the column keeps it.

For a saved AI column, Cost per model shows what each model would cost on this column: Model, Per row and Column, the tier of each model (Premium, Standard, Economy) and cheapest next to the cheapest one. A tick marks the model the column runs on now; on Automatic that is the model Quanty picked for its type. The prices come from what the column has cost so far ("Priced from what this column has cost so far.") or, before the first run, from list prices ("Estimated from list prices. The first run makes it exact.").

Data source

"Web searches use each row's values. Mention columns with @ in the prompt to tell each search what to look for. Every search is billed from your plan's credits." With the internet on, the column gets Search method, Freshness, Only these sites and Quanty Connect, and the header shows web data (see Web research).

Polish registries (GUS/KRS/CEIDG) gives the AI the official company record for the row's NIP, REGON or KRS number, free.

Output format

Knowledge base

+ attach adds documents from Files that every row is judged against, such as a price list, a regulation or a checklist: "The model rates against these documents, not its own defaults. Updating an attached doc marks this column stale." Attach reference documents here "instead of uploading them into one row" (see Files).

Branches and review gates

Two settings turn a table into a pipeline:

• Branch: run only when picks a Single choice column and its values; the column then runs only on those rows. "Off-branch cells never compute (0 credits) and show “Not on this branch”". Use it to send invoices and CMRs down different columns, for example.
• Route to human review when (on a Single choice column) picks the values that send a row to a person: "Rows landing on these values queue for human review, the end-of-pipeline gate." (see Cell details, reviews and history).

Refine a whole column

After a column has run, its settings show Refine: "Re-runs every cell of this column with this follow-up instruction. Applies to this run only, the prompt above stays unchanged. Ground-truth cells record drift instead of being overwritten." For one cell, use Refine in the cell's details.

Run the AI columns

AI columns run when you tell them to, and by themselves for new rows.

Run AI

1. Click Run AI ("Run AI on all rows and columns"), or the arrow next to it, Run options, to choose the columns.
2. Run AI on this table? "Processes pending cells and spends your organization’s credits. You can stop at any time." Choose Run on (current page or All pages) and the Columns, check the cost, and click Run 3 columns. Don't show this again skips the question next time.
3. The cells show Queued, then Processing, and fill in row by row. A ring in the toolbar shows how far the run is ("Processing: 40% done. Click to watch the agents work.").

Run AI processes cells that are pending or failed, and also updates cells that are out of date ("Run AI: also updates 3 out-of-date cell(s)"). Rows with no document, no text and no values are skipped, and cells whose document is still being read wait: "Waiting for the document to be processed…". A cell that reads another column waits for it: "Waiting for: Kwota netto".

The first 10 rows

Every Run AI, Recompute all cells and Update processes the first 10 rows and then stops, so that you can check the answers before paying for the whole table: "A short first batch lets you check the answers before paying for the whole table. When it finishes we ask whether to run the rest." Then Processed 10 of 240 rows shows what the batch cost and what the rest will cost; Process the rest runs them.

What starts a run by itself

Besides Run AI, these start AI work and spend credits without a click on Run AI:

An AI column added in the record window does not run until you run it from the grid.

Stop, update and re-run

A cell becomes out of date (stale: "A source changed, so this value may be out of date") when a column it reads or an attached Knowledge base document changes. Changing a column's own prompt or settings runs that column again at once (see What starts a run by itself); the columns that read it become out of date. After a run with failures: "3 cells failed. Open them to see why and retry"; a failed cell shows its error and Retry.

What a cell shows

The Retry button of a failed cell is shown in English in every language.

Credits

AI columns are billed in credits from your organization's balance.

• The model's work. Each cell costs what the model used to answer it. The model you choose matters most: an economy model can cost a small fraction of a premium one on the same column. Cost per model shows the difference before you choose.
• Web work (searches, page reads, research runs, Quanty Connect sources) is billed on top (see Web research).
• Transcription costs 13 credits per minute of audio, counted by the second. A recording already transcribed in Files is reused at no cost.
• Free: formula columns, basic, linked and computed columns, KSeF invoice data, Polish registries, official NBP rates, off-branch cells and changing how a column displays its values.

See the cost before you run

• Cost of running this column, in a saved AI column's settings and in Run AI on this table?: "About 240 credits for 60 cells.", "Models used: Claude Sonnet 5.", "You have 12 400 credits." When a run is bigger than your balance: "You have only 180 credits left, so the run will stop partway." Before a column has run a few times, the estimate is based on list prices and does not include web searches.
• Past 60 cells (columns × rows), the estimate adds: "a run is a batch, and it is worth checking whether it can be done for less", with See whether a Quanty Expert can lower this cost: Can this be done for less? sends your note to Quanty ("Sent. A Quanty Expert will get back to you.").
• Settings, Usage shows what was spent, with separate lines for AI, Web search, transcription and formula drafting (see Billing and credits).

When credits run out

A run does not start without a paid plan, without credits, or when your organization's monthly AI budget or your own limit is reached. If the balance runs out during a run, the remaining cells fail with the reason and admins are notified. The AI buttons then say why, for example "AI features need a paid plan. Choose one for this organization to switch them on." or "This organization has spent its monthly allowance. Buy a top-up or wait for the next period." Members are asked to contact an admin.

Compare two models

Compare models (A/B)… in the column menu makes a copy of the column (the B column) so that you can run the same prompt with another model.

1. Choose Compare models (A/B)…. Quanty duplicates the column and the copy starts running right away, on the same model. Change the copy's model: it then runs again with the new one.
2. Run both. Compare · Kwota netto shows them side by side: "agreement 7/10 rows · disagreements auto-flagged for review".
3. Pick Keep A, Keep B (the other column is deleted) or Keep both.

The copy's runs cost credits like any run, so the first run on the same model is paid too.

Duplicate a column

Duplicate column copies the type, prompt and settings, not the values. The copy is named with "(B)". An AI copy runs at once for every row, like a new column, and costs credits; a hand-typed copy starts empty.

The pipeline map

Pipeline in the toolbar ("See how your columns connect") draws the table as a map: each column is a box, and the lines show what feeds what.

The lines are labelled documents, value, branch, knowledge base and external data. Click a box to see its instruction or formula, "Runs only when", "Reads from", "Feeds into", the Audit summary (Runs, Failed, Cost, Avg. confidence, Last run) and its recent values; View column opens its settings.

Recompute stale updates every out-of-date cell. Export downloads the map as PNG, PDF or SVG, or as JSON (audit data), with Include: Prompts & formulas and Audit stats, a Value history (No history or the last runs) and the Export theme (Light or Dark). Back to grid returns to the table.

Good to know

• Hand-typed values. A value you type into an AI cell is replaced whenever that cell is computed again: Reprocess cell, Recompute all cells, a changed prompt or model, or Run AI and Update after one of its inputs changed. To keep it for good, lock it as ground truth (see Cell details, reviews and history).
• Locked values. Cells locked as ground truth never change, whatever runs.
• Hidden columns still run. Hiding a column only changes your screen.
• Requests per minute. Very fast repeated AI requests can hit a limit of 30 per minute: "AI request limit reached. Try again in 20s."

Related pages

• Column types: every type and its settings.
• Web research: columns that read the internet.
• Formulas and totals: free computed columns.
• Cell details, reviews and history: checking and correcting values.
• Billing and credits: plans, credits and limits.