Buddy for messy files
Send me the pile, like a year of monthly spreadsheets or a stack of PDFs. I’ll combine it, clean it up, and send back one file.
The office manager at a plumbing company in Joplin, Missouri, with a year of job logs and an accountant waiting on Friday.
Send me the pile and tell me what counts as a duplicate. I’ll hand back one clean file and show you what I took out.
- Make one spreadsheet from these 40 scanned receipts, with the date, store, and amount.
- Put these documents into one PDF, with the application first and the supporting material afterward.
- These three customer lists overlap. Make me one list with each person on it once.
- Today 4:10 PM
- You sent a file: Twelve spreadsheets12 files, January to December
- You: these are last year’s job logs, one per month. can you combine them into one file and take out the duplicates? our accountant wants it friday
- Buddy: Sure. If the customer, date, and amount all match, is it the same job?
- You: yeah. sometimes a job gets typed in again the next month
- Buddy: Got it. I’ll keep the first one and set the repeats aside so you can check them.
- 4:19 PM
- Buddy: Done. The twelve files had 1,247 rows. I took out 35 repeats, most at the start of a month, which leaves 1,212 jobs and $412,860 billed, in date order. March had its columns in a different order, so I lined it up with the rest.
- 2025 job log, combined.xlsxExcel spreadsheet
- Buddy: The 35 repeats are on their own sheet if you want to look before it goes out.
- You: you just saved my whole week Buddy loved this.
Send me the pile, like a year of monthly spreadsheets or a stack of PDFs. I’ll combine it, clean it up, and send back one file.
From a pile of files to one
Send me everything
Attach the spreadsheets, exports, or documents. Tell me what the result is for and what counts as a duplicate.
I combine and clean it
I work on my own computer: lining up columns, taking out repeats, putting things in order. If I can’t read part of it, I’ll say what was left out.
Check it and keep it
Open the file I send back and download a copy. Ask for changes, or a PDF or Word version for someone else.
More you can ask for
- Combine these twelve monthly spreadsheets into one file and take out the duplicates.
- Split this 300-page PDF of statements into one file per customer.
- These exports spell customer names three different ways. Make them match.
- Which months in this job log were the busiest?
- Make a copy of the combined file without the phone numbers, for the accountant.
- Turn these notes into a Word document and a PDF.
What you get back
One clean file
A real Excel spreadsheet you can sort and calculate with, or one PDF in the order you asked for.
Working with dataWhat I took out, kept aside
Repeats go on their own sheet, so you can check my work before anything goes out.
A plain account of it
How many rows came in, how many went out, and anything I had to fix along the way, like columns in a different order.
Done on my computer, sent to yours
I do the work on my own computer and send the result back in the conversation. You don’t need to leave yours on.
Buddy’s computer
| Date | Customer | Billed |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 2 | Hollis | $185 |
| Jan 2 | Corner Laundromat | $640 |
| Jan 3 | Marquez | $1,240 |
| Jan 3 | Okafor | $95 |
| Jan 6 | Lindgren | $310 |
| Jan 6 | Elm Street Diner | $2,150 |
| Jan 7 | Rasmussen | $225 |
| 2025 | 1,212 jobs | $412,860 |
Questions people ask
What kinds of files can I send?
Spreadsheets, CSV exports, tables, and documents. If a page is hard to read, like a blurry scan, Buddy says which part and may ask for a clearer copy.
Does he change the files I sent?
Buddy sends what he makes as a new file in the conversation. If you want a separate copy kept of something he’s changing, say so.
Can I watch him work?
In the VXBE desktop app, the conversation shows Watch Buddy when there’s a screen to see. Not every job has one, since he may process files without opening an application. Over iMessage or email, he can send a link if you need to take over a step.
Will the file still be there next week?
Download the result when it arrives, and it’s yours to keep. You can also ask him to find a file you shared or one he saved.