Grids: Best Practices, Limitations & FAQ
Get the most out of your grids — and know where the edges are
Best practices
Mix your data types
A wall of "few sentences" columns is unreadable and unsortable. Keep description-style columns under half your total, and balance them with categorical tags, numbers, and dates.
Put generic identifiers first
Lead your grid with state abbreviations, dates, and numbers; push longer narrative columns to the right.
⚠️ Deleting and reordering columns isn't currently available, so get the order right when you build. If you need help re-ordering, email support@halcyon.io
Use two-letter state abbreviations
"What is the two-letter abbreviation of this state?" sorts cleanly; full state names sort less predictably alongside other values.
Test small, then scale
Experiment with search filters and column queries on a handful of rows before applying them to a big dataset. Check that your constraints hold up across different time periods and document types.
⚠️ You can click “Click to Preview” to preview a single column response before saving the column, which will execute the queries across all the rows.
Specify units — twice
Cells don't display units, so:
- Put the unit in the query — "What is the total cost, in millions of dollars?" — to steer the model to the right numerical context.
- Put the unit in the column name — "Cost ($M)" — so readers know what they're looking at.
⚠️ Unit instructions can occasionally steer the model wrong. Spot-check that the requested units were actually applied before relying on the numbers.
Pair numbers with context
Use a "few sentences" column alongside a number column for the same fact.
Instead of: one column — "What is the projected load growth?" (a few sentences)
Try this: two columns — "What is the projected annual load growth rate as a percentage?" (decimal number) plus "Summarize the drivers behind the projected load growth." (a few sentences)
The number column gives you the clean, sortable value; the sentences column gives you the story around it.
Limitations to know about now (we’re working on these!)
- No sharing. If you create a new column, your colleague won’t be able to see it. If you want to share a version of a Grid you made with a colleague, email support@halcyon.io
- No audit trail for math. If a numeric answer reflects a calculation, you get a citation but no formula. Don't assume the model did arithmetic correctly — assume it found a relevant number, and verify anything computed.
- No ranges. Date, year, and number formats return single values. Ranges need a start column and an end column.
- No time-series aggregation. There's no native way to aggregate across a time period or compute trends inside a grid. Workarounds today: one column per year, or export to Excel and do the math there.
- Excel exports drop cell-level citations. Downloads give you the values, not the traceability. If you need to verify sources, use the live grid.
- Row search filters are frozen. You can't change the search filters behind a row after it's created. Get the search right first, or re-add rows from a corrected search.
- Columns can't see other columns. Each column's query runs independently — you can't reference one column's answer in another column's query.
- Search filters apply to the whole row. Every cell in a row draws from the same search constraints; you can't scope one column to a subset of a row's documents.
- Rows can only be renamed or deleted by the Halcyon team. This protects data integrity on shared grids. If a row needs fixing, contact support@halcyon.io
FAQ
What does "–" in a cell mean? There wasn't enough information in the row's documents to answer confidently. A "–" can appear in any column format, though it's most common in True/False columns — and it is not the same as "false." Note that very strict format instructions make non-answers more likely: the model prefers no answer over a bad answer.
What does the purple checkmark on a cell mean? The value has been human-verified by the Halcyon team — the answer or its sources were manually reviewed.
Do cells update automatically when new documents are filed? Cells will update based on the Update Frequency set at the column level. If you selected a “live” Row option, new rows will be added to your Grid whenever new information that meets that “live” search criteria is added to Halcyon’s platform.
How is a Grid different from a Data Subscription? Data Subscriptions are tabular datasets curated and maintained by Halcyon, updated monthly. Grids let you customize datasets built by Halcyon.
How is a Grid different from a Query? A Query asks one question of a set of documents. A Grid asks many questions across many document sets, and keeps the answers organized, sortable, and traceable in one place.
Can I trust the numbers in my grid? Every cell links back to its source documents — click any cell to see the query that ran and citations to the original filings. For calculated values, verify the math yourself (see Limitations).
Why don't I see Grids available when I click the tab in the navigation menu? Grids access is provisioned per account. Reach out to your Halcyon contact or support@halcyon.io to get set up.
Learn more
- Intro to Halcyon Grids — what Grids are and when to use them
- How to Build a Grid — the step-by-step guide
- Grid Column Types — the seven response formats
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