How to create documents, decks, and spreadsheets with AI
Create AI documents, presentations, and spreadsheets your team can use. Choose a format, give a clear brief, review the file, and share the right version.
By TalentOS
To create documents, decks, and spreadsheets with AI, supply the source material, describe who will use the file, and ask for the finished format. Open the result, check its claims and layout, then share the saved version you have reviewed. These durable outputs are often called AI artifacts.
The useful test is simple: can the person receiving it use it without reconstructing your chat?
“Here is what your presentation could say” and “here is the presentation” are different outcomes.
1. Choose the file the recipient needs
Start by asking who needs the work and what they will do with it.
Your board needs to read a concise update. Finance needs to check a model. A customer needs to understand a proposal. A colleague needs an editable deck for tomorrow’s meeting.
Those are four different jobs. A well-written chat reply might support all of them, but it is not the finished format for any of them.
TalentOS supports saved documents and outputs including Word documents, PowerPoint decks, PDFs, spreadsheets, and web apps. Pick the format that fits the recipient’s next action. An interactive idea can be explored as a web app; a document or PDF is often easier to hand to someone who just needs to read.
2. Give the AI a brief for the finished file
A useful request includes the audience, the source material, the deliverable, and the review standard. For example:
Create a six-slide customer review for the account owner. Use the notes and numbers I provide. Show the current situation, the recommendation, and the decision we need. Mark missing evidence rather than filling it in. Produce an editable presentation, then list anything I should check before sharing it.
This tells the agent what completion means. It also prevents a polished-looking guess from quietly becoming a fact in the final file.
For a spreadsheet, be equally specific about assumptions, units, and which cells the recipient should change. For a report, say which sources must be cited. The more consequential the use, the more concrete the review should be.
Use the same approach across the three formats:
Scroll to see all columns
| File | What to include in the brief | What to review |
|---|---|---|
| Document | Audience, decision, source notes, and required sections | Evidence, missing information, and the recommendation |
| Slide deck | Audience, meeting goal, slide count, and editable format | Story, readable slides, and supported claims |
| Spreadsheet | Source data, units, assumptions, formulas, and editable inputs | Calculations, labels, and what changes when an input changes |
3. Review the file the recipient will open
Read the actual document. Open the deck. Check the spreadsheet. A good explanation in the chat does not prove the exported file is readable or correct.
In TalentOS, the artifact preview centers the deliverable, and supported exports remain available for download. Saved document versions let you revise work without pretending an older review covered the new version.
Keep the review small and practical:
- Are the claims supported by the source material?
- Does the file make sense without the chat?
- Can the recipient read the layout and use the format?
- Is the recommendation clear, including what remains uncertain?
For a financial model, also check the formulas and assumptions yourself. For a web app, try the actual interactions. “Generated successfully” is not the same as “ready to use.”
4. Share the version you have reviewed
New artifacts start private. Sharing with teammates, making a reusable company publication, and enabling an external link are separate choices. Start with the smallest audience that needs the work.
For a supported saved document, an owner can explicitly enable an “Anyone with the link can view” link. The link exposes that saved version rather than the originating chat, personal memory, or future edits. Forwarding the link forwards access. Revoking it blocks later access through the link, but cannot remove a file somebody already downloaded.
That is useful for sending finished work outside the workspace. It is also a reason to check both the content and the audience before sharing. An internal draft with customer notes is not automatically the right external deliverable.
The security page explains the broader access and approval rules. For the file itself, a useful final check is: “Would I be comfortable if this exact version reached everyone who could receive the link?”
Ask for something you would actually send
The next time you ask AI for a report, add one sentence: “The person receiving this will not have access to our conversation.”
Then describe that person and their next decision. You will usually get a much better brief, and you will have a clearer standard for reviewing the result.
If several people are contributing, use a Room and a clear handoff. If the same kind of artifact comes up every week, turn the method into a reusable company skill.
For a worked example, try a weekly client update or a decision and action list from meeting notes. Both start with supplied evidence and finish with a draft someone can check.