14
AI Chatbots have discovered their approach into the palms of academics and college students across the globe. In lecture rooms, about half of U.S. academics and Ok-12 college students now use an AI chatbot like ChatGPT on a weekly foundation. Solely about 20 % of scholars says they haven’t used AI. With widespread use of AI, many are proceed to wrestle with getting info out and in of chatbots. With that in thoughts, it’s price brushing up on file codecs.
Wait… What are file codecs?
File codecs are normal ways in which info is encoded. For instance, webpages are encoded in quite a lot of codecs reminiscent of hypertext markup language (HTML). Use Microsoft Docs or Excel? Then these file codecs are DOCX and XLSx, respectively. On the daybreak of the AI age, many wrestle with file codecs, and totally different chatbots could not deal with your favourite program’s file format.
That is a simple downside to beat, you merely want to pay attention to the file codecs chatbots can soak up (import) or come out (export). The desk under can present some readability for you on this regard.
Why Does It Matter?
Within the desk under, you may see widespread chatbots. You will notice whether or not they help textual content and markdown (all of them do besides Meta and You.com). Which means that if you know the way to get recordsdata into markdown format, you may convert to different codecs. Why does that matter?
Contemplate that chatbots like Claude can import PDFs, DOCx, and many others., however can not export to these proprietary codecs. Which means you may have a lovely paperwork with tables and formatting (daring, italics, underline), part headers, and it’s lowered to easy textual content. How will you hold most of that formatting? Use markdown format. However paste that markdown right into a phrase processor, and it gained’t look nice. You first must convert it to a usable format.
Chatbot Comparability: Import and Export Codecs
This desk clarifies what codecs work finest for varied widespread chatbots. Along with file codecs, it additionally gives recommendations for quite a lot of net browser extensions. You will notice extra about browser extensions in a second.
| Chatbot | Textual content | Markdown | Proprietary Codecs | Further Export Codecs | Browser Extensions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude | ✓ | ✓ | PDF, DOCX, XLSX, CSV, HTML, ODT, RTF, EPUB | JSON | Claude AI, Claude Export (browser script) |
| ChatGPT | ✓ | ✓ | PDF, DOCX, XLSX | HTML, PNG, LaTeX, Code Snippets, JSON, ASCII artwork | ChatGPT for Google |
| Google Gemini | ✓ | ✓ | PDF, DOCX, XLSX, Google Docs/Sheets/Slides | CSV, Export to Google Docs, Gmail drafts, Google Sheets (tables), Google Colab (Python code), Replit (varied coding languages) | Gemini AI Sidebar |
| Meta AI | ✓ | – | PDF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, WEBP | GIF | N/A |
| Microsoft Copilot | ✓ | ✓ | DOCX, PPTX, XLSX | Export through options (managed/unmanaged) | Copilot for Microsoft 365 |
| Perplexity | ✓ | ✓ | – | Perplexity AI, Save my Chatbot | |
| You.com | ✓ | – | – | – | YouChat AI Chatbot |
There are numerous web sites that may ease your transition. Should you depend on markdown as a method to hold formatting, you should utilize the Free Markdown to HTML Converter. I hold a browser tab open to this conversion web site. It’s free, and offers a markdown syntax cheatsheet. That cheatsheet could be useful to those that might not be acquainted with markdown.
Studying Extra About Markdown
If you wish to study extra about markdown, take a number of moments to check the Markdown Syntax Cheatsheet. Need extra info? Be taught extra about markdown through the Markdown Tutorial web site.
You may keep away from studying all of the intricacies of markdown via the usage of browser extensions. Let’s check out a number of that make your life simpler.
Browser Extensions
A number of nice browser extensions seem under. They facilitate getting info in usable format into and out of codecs chatbots and folks can use. In time, these browser extensions could change into unnnecessary. For now, although, they will ease a few of the ache of transition between IMPORT->PROCESS->EXPORT steps.
Listed below are my prime three picks for converters that I take advantage of day by day:
Instrument #1: Copy Choice as Markdown
On an internet site and need to seize a portion of the webpage with its format intact? Use certainly one of these widespread “copy choice as markdown” browser extensions. As soon as put in, you may spotlight textual content on any web site. Then, right-click it and select “copy choice as markdown.” This can make a duplicate in your system’s clipboard. You may then paste that markdown textual content with its formatting intact into your AI chatbot of alternative.
Listed below are a number of nice browser extensions for Chrome/Chromium browsers:
Utilizing Firefox? You may discover certainly one of these choices worthwhile.
What are some methods to make use of this?
- Copy textual content from an internet site after I need to analyze its veracity (pretend information?)
- Seize choice to transform content material I’ve written, or
- Choose textual content as markdown with the intent of utilizing AI to gives recommendations or suggestions to colleagues.
Give it a strive. It makes changing content material from web sites into markdown straightforward.
Instrument #2: Convert Google Docs to Markdown
As an avid Google Docs person, I usually have complicated Google Docs with headings and formatted textual content. There are occasions I need to drop a formatted doc. I might export it as a DOCx or RTF, however I usually wish to copy-n-paste from one doc to a different. Saving recordsdata to my system can get tedious. To keep away from that, I convert Google Docs in my browser utilizing a Google Doc extension.
There are a number of “convert Docs to markdown” extensions within the Google Market. One which I’ve relied on persistently is Bean Highway Communications’ Docs to Markdown.
Instrument #3: Convert WebP to JPG or PNG
Attempt to save an image from ChatGPT, you’ll get a WebP formatted picture. This could be a ache in the event you don’t have a picture converter put in in your system. A workaround? Use one of many following browser conversion instruments. You may right-click on a picture, and save that WebP as a JPG or PNG picture. That’s necessary as a result of the JPG/PNG picture codecs are extra extensively accepted. At the very least, accepted by varied packages that haven’t made the change to WebP but.
The primary two browser extensions convert from WebP to PNG and JPG, respectively. The third converts from PNG/JPG to WebP.
AI Chatbot File Compatibility
Need to use AI chatbots properly? You merely must know two issues. First, study what file sorts every bot can learn and make. This helps you get your work out and in. Second, use browser-based converters or add-ons to alter file sorts quick. This retains your textual content wanting good. Do these two issues and also you’ll get extra from AI bots. It really works for college, work, or enjoyable. Let me know what you utilize within the feedback under.
