Connect data

Data reaches Signal through a file upload or a recurring connection. Both routes place new deliveries in Received files, where you can inspect and prepare them for analysis.

Upload a file#

1. Open Data, then Received files.
2. Select Upload data.
3. Drop files into the upload area or choose them from your device.
4. Wait for the stored file to appear, then confirm its proposed file type, provider, market, category, and delivery pattern when requested.
5. Choose Confirm and import after checking the classification summary.

Signal accepts common structured-data formats, including CSV, Excel, Parquet, JSON, XML, TSV, and text. If a large file cannot be processed automatically, split it into smaller deliveries or ask your Signal contact about a recurring connection.

Describe the grain as well as the subject. “Weekly sales by retailer, SKU, store, and date” is more useful than “sales file.”

Understand delivery patterns#

The load mode explains how one delivery relates to the next:

• Snapshot replaces the previous view with the latest complete picture.
• Incremental contains only changes since the previous delivery.
• Change log records inserts, updates, and deletes as events.
• Transactions appends new events without changing earlier rows.

Choose the mode that reflects how the provider created the file. A wrong mode can duplicate or remove data in later loads.

Follow the file status#

Received files shows what to do next:

• Checking file means Signal is inspecting the delivery.
• Your input needed asks you to confirm classification or required context.
• Processing means import setup, loading, or matching is under way.
• Ready to use means processing completed.
• Saved for reference keeps material that is not imported as structured rows.
• Blocked includes the reason and available next action.
• Stored only retains the original without processing it.

Open a file to inspect its overview, row preview, detected schema, individual loads, and timeline. You can also download the original delivery.

Approve prepared data#

Signal may prepare an import and show a preview of how it will read the file. Workspace administrators can approve the first import of a new file type and review sensitive contract changes. Other members can inspect the preview and ask an administrator to make the decision.

Once an import is approved, future matching files can follow the same rules automatically.

Check what was imported#

Open Import rules, select the rule, expand an attempt under Import activity, and choose View imported data. You can inspect destination tables, retained rows and records that were not imported, download matching rows as CSV, or download the original file. Download actions require permission to export data.

See Inspect an import for source-record links and historical-data limits.

Schedule files from SharePoint, Google Drive or Dropbox#

1. Open Data sources, choose Add source, and select SharePoint/OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox.
2. Connect access. If Microsoft setup is needed, the setup guidance appears before the file or folder link. Use Get IT setup link when an administrator needs to approve access.
3. For SharePoint or OneDrive, paste the file or folder link once. For Google Drive, sign in and select one file or folder. For Dropbox, sign in and enter its Dropbox path, such as /Sales/Weekly.csv or /Sales.
4. Return to Signal and choose Test connection. After it passes, continue to Schedule, choose the cadence and finish setup.

Selecting a folder imports each new supported file directly inside it once. The first run includes existing files. Subfolders are excluded, and editing an already imported file does not import it again.

Selecting a single file saves a dated snapshot on every scheduled run, even if its contents are unchanged. Retrying the same run reuses that delivery. This controls when Signal collects files; the import's load mode controls how their rows are used.

SharePoint/OneDrive and Dropbox support CSV and XLSX files up to 100 MB. Google Drive also supports Google Sheets. Unsupported files in a folder are skipped. Changing access requires a fresh connection test before continuing setup.

Check a recurring source#

Open Data sources to see the feeds and connections available to the workspace. Source cards show the last delivery, next expected delivery, matching rules, and recent files. Connection cards show whether the connection is active and how it authenticates, without revealing credentials.

Use Add source to set up a connection. If you cannot manage connections, ask your workspace administrator or Signal contact.