When you upload existing Excel manuals, work standards, or checklists, Word procedures, or PowerPoint slides to Dive, AI automatically generates titles, summaries, and steps (including questions and pass/fail judgments). You can edit and share them on the same screen as video SOPs.
Many customers currently manage procedures in Excel. Rather than re-recording videos or rewriting content, this is the workflow to move your existing procedure assets to Dive as-is.
Supported file formats
- PDF (previously supported)
- Excel: .xlsx / .xlsm / .xls
- Word: .docx / .doc
- PowerPoint: .pptx / .ppt
- OpenDocument: .odt / .ods / .odp
When you upload, the Cloud converts it to PDF, and then AI structures the steps. (The original Excel/Word/PPT files are also retained as materials.)
You can also create procedures from images (JPEG/PNG/WebP/HEIC) using the "Image" tab in the same "Create from file" workflow. Each image becomes one step, and selecting multiple images creates a single procedure in the order you arranged them. For images, the "import method" and "step split" options explained in this article do not apply.
Creation steps
- Click the [+] button in the sidebar, then click "Create from file"
- The file selection screen opens. For new files, drag and drop or click "Select file" to upload
- After uploading, AI processing options open. Adjust as needed (see next section for details), then click "Run"
- After AI processing completes, select that file. You can also select AI-processed files from "Materials" as-is
- "How do you want to import the file?" opens; select your import method (see "Choosing import method" below)
- "Step conversion settings" shows narration and questions settings; click "Confirm with this content"
- The SOP editor opens. Check and edit the content, then publish
If you want to redo processing midway, click "Re-run AI" from the material detail modal to change options and re-analyze (you can try multiple times from the same file).
Choosing import method
After selecting a file, choose one of four import methods for your SOP. Hover over each button to see a description.
- "As-is (1 step)": The entire file becomes one step. The title and summary contain what AI read
- "1 step per slide": All steps divided by AI are imported. Hover over the button to see how many steps will be created, like "10 pages → 12 steps". The step split method follows the AI processing option "Step split method", so page count and step count may not match
- "Select slides": Choose which pages to use and import only the steps from those pages. If you select a page where AI did not create steps (like a cover or content spilling from previous page), that page becomes a display-only step
- "File-based": Do not split into steps; register the file as a single SOP. When opened, the file displays as-is. Excel, Word, and PowerPoint show the PDF-converted version, and downloading retrieves the original file. For details, see Registering existing files directly as SOPs (File-based procedures)
For procedures created from Excel, Word, or PowerPoint, what displays in the step is the PDF-converted page.
Adding steps to an already-created SOP
When adding steps in the SOP editor, if you select "File" from "What type of content would you like to add?", you can choose Excel, Word, or PowerPoint in addition to PDF. After selecting, choose your import method from the same "As-is (1 step)" / "1 step per slide" / "Select slides" options. "File-based" is available only at creation.
Excel, Word, and PowerPoint can be selected only if AI processing is complete. PDF can be added with "As-is (1 step)" even without AI processing ("1 step per slide" and "Select slides" require AI processing).
AI processing option details
Adjust the following options to match your file content and desired SOP design.
Body mode (how to import content)
- Format (summarize) (default): AI interprets the body text and formats it into text that reads naturally as steps. Redundant explanations are consolidated, and the subject and object of actions are clarified.
- Transcribe (verbatim): Text from the file is entered into the step body with the same wording. Use this when you need to strictly maintain internal terminology or sentence endings.
Step split method
- Per content (default): AI divides steps at semantic boundaries in the text. Even if one Excel step is scattered across multiple cells, it can be grouped by content
- Per page: One PDF page = one step. Works well with Excel and PowerPoint slides formatted as 1 sheet = 1 page
Tone
- Command (example: "Turn on the power")
- Polite form (example: "Turn on the power")
- Suggestion (example: "Let's turn on the power")
- Writing style: If your team has set a How to write SOPs standard, it will be followed
Conversion mode (layout when converting to PDF)
For Excel, this specifies the layout when converting sheets to PDF.
- Follow print settings (default): Converts according to print settings in the Excel file (page breaks and print range)
- Fit width to 1 page: Shrinks horizontally to fit one page width. Avoids the issue of wide sheets getting cut off
- 1 sheet = 1 page: Forces each sheet into one page
Create questions
If you check "Create questions" in the AI processing options, AI will create questions for operators based on the material content. This is ON by default. When OFF, only questions already written in the original material are imported (previous behavior). Questions are not created for pages without actual work (like cover pages, table of contents, or revision history).
When checked, you can select "Question type" (site confirmation / comprehension test). The default is "site confirmation". For details, see AI processing option items and how to choose them.
When the body writing style is "Transcribe", questions cannot be created because it copies the original material as-is. Only questions that exist in the original material are imported.
Settings when creating an SOP
After AI processing completes, specify the following in "Step conversion settings" when creating as an SOP.
- "Apply questions to steps": Whether to attach the created questions to steps. If unchecked, the SOP contains only the step body text
- "Continue when unexpected": Questions become normal/abnormal judgments instead of pass/fail. This is suited for checklists and inspection sheets. Materials where "site confirmation" was selected in AI processing options are ON from the start
- "Narration target": Whether the body is read aloud as audio when the created SOP is played
For details, see Step conversion settings (narration, captions, questions, related files).
Specifying reference procedures (beta, related feature)
When creating procedures from videos, you can also specify existing SOPs or files (such as Excel) as reference materials and reflect them in the video analysis. If you want to create a video manual based on an already-prepared Excel procedure, please take advantage of this (currently in beta). For details, see Specifying reference procedures in video analysis (beta).
Frequently asked questions
Q. Are Excel charts and images also reflected in the SOP?
A. At the PDF conversion stage, images and charts are taken in as page images. AI primarily reads text in the body, and images are attached to steps as thumbnails or reference materials. If you want to make use of page images, the "Per page" split method is recommended.
Q. Can I also import .xlsm files with macros?
A. Yes. .xlsm is a supported format. Macros themselves are not executed; the displayed sheet content is converted to PDF and imported.
Q. AI did not divide steps the way I expected.
A. Click "Re-run AI" from the material detail modal to change options and re-analyze. Simply switching the "Step split method" between "Per content" and "Per page" can produce very different results. If that still does not work, manual editing in the SOP editor is the most reliable approach.
Q. Can I create multiple times from the same file?
A. Yes. Files saved in "Materials" can be "Re-run AI" to re-analyze as needed, and you can create new SOPs each time.
Q. What is the file size limit for supported formats?
A. The same upload limit as video materials applies. Very large Excel or PowerPoint files (equivalent to hundreds of pages) can be processed more stably if divided and uploaded separately.