How to Use ChatGPT Code Interpreter for Data Analysis

Step-by-step guide to analyzing spreadsheets and creating visualizations with ChatGPT.

What is Code Interpreter?

ChatGPT's Code Interpreter (now called Advanced Data Analysis) lets you upload files, run Python code, and generate visualizations—all within ChatGPT.

Step-by-Step Tutorial

Step 1: Enable Code Interpreter

  1. Subscribe to ChatGPT Plus ($20/month)
  2. Click your profile → Settings → Beta Features
  3. Enable "Advanced Data Analysis"

Step 2: Upload Your Data

  1. Start a new chat
  2. Select "GPT-4" model with Code Interpreter enabled
  3. Click the "+" button to upload files (CSV, Excel, JSON, etc.)

Step 3: Ask for Analysis

Example prompts:

  • "Analyze this sales data and show monthly trends"
  • "Create a scatter plot of revenue vs marketing spend"
  • "Identify outliers in this dataset"
  • "Calculate correlation between these variables"
  • "Clean this data and remove duplicates"

Step 4: Refine Results

ChatGPT will generate code, run it, and show results. You can:

  • Ask for different visualizations
  • Request specific calculations
  • Download generated charts and data

Real-World Use Cases

1. Sales Analysis

"Upload sales CSV → Analyze monthly trends → Create revenue forecasts"

2. Data Cleaning

"Upload messy spreadsheet → Remove duplicates → Standardize formats → Export clean data"

3. Visualization

"Upload dataset → Create interactive charts → Download as PNG/PDF"

4. Statistical Analysis

"Upload experiment data → Run t-tests → Calculate p-values → Generate reports"

Tips for Best Results

  • Use clean, well-formatted data (CSV or Excel)
  • Be specific in your requests
  • Ask for explanations of the analysis
  • Download intermediate results
  • Iterate and refine your questions

Limitations

  • File size limit: 512MB
  • Session timeout after inactivity
  • Can't access external data sources
  • Python-only (no R or other languages)

Conclusion

ChatGPT Code Interpreter democratizes data analysis. You don't need to know Python or statistics—just describe what you want, and ChatGPT handles the rest.