# First Steps

**If you have just opened OrcaSheets for the first time, start here. This page is a quick "do this next" checklist that gets you from an empty app to your first shareable result.**

![Project onboarding and data import flow](/images/project_onboarding.gif)

## What you will accomplish

- Create or open a Project.
- Import your first dataset.
- Produce a result (Pivot Table, Chart, or Dashboard).
- Export something you can share.

## Step 1: Create or open a Project

1. **Choose** **New Project** on the project selection screen, or click an existing Project.
2. **Name** the Project something you will recognise later, for example "Q1 revenue analysis".

## Step 2: Import your first data

1. **Click** **Add Sheet**, or import during Project creation.
2. **Select** a file (CSV, TSV, Excel, Parquet, or GZ).
3. **Confirm** in the preview that:
   - Column names look right.
   - Types look right (dates, numbers, text).
4. **Click** **Continue** to load and optimise the Sheet.

If you need to pull data from external systems, use [Connectors](/docs/connectors) (premium).

## Step 3: Explore and analyse

Start from your Sheet tab:

- **Filter** to narrow down the rows you care about, so the rest of your analysis stays focused.
- **Sort** to spot patterns at a glance.
- **Build a Pivot Table** to summarise, so you can see totals and breakdowns instantly.
- **Use OrcAI** (the `=orcai()` cell) to describe a transformation in plain English and turn it into something reusable, often via a [Macro](/docs/using-macros): see [OrcAI](/docs/orcai).
- **Create a Visualization** (Chart) to communicate a trend.
- **Add outputs to a Dashboard** for a clean, shareable view.

## Step 4: Export

1. **Open** the tab you want to export (Sheet, Pivot Table, or Chat result).
2. **Click** the **Download** icon.
3. **Choose** a format and a save location.

Tip: Charts are typically exported as images from the Dashboard view.

## Video walkthrough

[Watch first steps walkthrough](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rEjMXGXygY#embed)

## Related pages

- [Importing Data](/docs/data-import)
- [Viewing & Navigating Data](/docs/viewing-navigating-data)
- [Filtering Data](/docs/filtering-data)
- [Pivot Tables](/docs/pivot-tables)
- [Creating Visualizations](/docs/creating-visualizations)
- [Building Dashboards](/docs/building-dashboards)
- [AI Report Generator](/docs/ai-report-generator)
- [Exporting Data](/docs/exporting-data)