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GuidesBy featureAnyone who has to produce a report, a costed spreadsheet or a short presentation and is staring at a blank page

Drafting a document, spreadsheet or deck with a strong model

For Anyone who has to produce a report, a costed spreadsheet or a short presentation and is staring at a blank page.

A capable model like Astra or Fable can turn your notes and numbers into a first draft of a document, a spreadsheet structure or a slide outline. The thinking, the real figures and the final polish stay with you, so you are shaping a draft instead of building from nothing.

When to use this

You need to hand over a report, a budget or a set of slides, and the hardest part is getting from a blank page to something you can react to and improve.

  • Turns rough notes into a structured first draft of a document with clear sections and headings
  • Suggests a spreadsheet layout, the columns and the formulas, from a plain description of what you are tracking
  • Drafts a slide by slide outline with a clear point per slide so the story holds together

Workflow

  1. Tell the model what you are making, who it is for, and what it needs to achieve

  2. Give it your raw material: the notes, the bullet points, the figures, however messy

  3. Ask for a clear structure first, a document outline, a set of columns, a slide list, and agree it before the detail

  4. Have it draft the content section by section so you can correct the direction early

  5. Check every number and formula yourself, then do a final pass for tone and clarity before it leaves your hands

Prompts to try

Use it, adapt it, and make it your own.

I need to produce [a report, a budget spreadsheet, or a short deck] for [audience] that needs to [purpose]. Here are my rough notes and figures: [paste]. First give me a clear structure and let me approve it, then draft it section by section. Do not invent any numbers, use only the figures I gave you, and tell me where I still need to fill something in.

Human lens

  • You own the actual numbers and check every figure and formula, because a wrong total is worse than a blank cell
  • You keep the argument and the decisions yours, since the model arranges words but does not carry the responsibility
  • You do the final read for tone, accuracy and anything that would embarrass you in the room

What to avoid

  • A model can produce a formula or a total that looks right and is wrong, so check the maths yourself
  • A confident, well formatted draft can quietly bury a weak argument, so read for substance not just polish
  • It will fill gaps with plausible sounding detail if you let it, so tell it to leave blanks where it lacks facts

Tools that fit: ChatGPT, Claude · Reviewed 2026-09-05

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