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Using Max Chat: A Complete Guide

This comprehensive guide will walk you through using Max Chat, from basic interactions to advanced features. Whether you're a first-time user or looking to master the interface, this tutorial covers everything you need to know.

Getting Started with Max Chat

When you first open Max, you'll be greeted with the chat interface - your primary way of interacting with data through natural language conversations.

Understanding the Interface

The Max Chat interface consists of three main areas:

  1. Left Panel: Chat history and navigation
  2. Center Panel: Active conversation area
  3. Right Panel: Intro page or analysis artifacts
📘

First Time User?

Take a moment to read the intro page on the right side. It often contains valuable information about available skills, datasets, and any specific features configured for your assistant.

Your First Conversation

Let's start with a simple interaction:

  1. Look for starter questions at the top of the chat area
  2. Click on any starter question to begin, or type your own question in the chat input
  3. Watch as Max processes your request - you'll see:
    • A loading indicator at the bottom
    • A message from Max explaining what it's doing
    • A white card showing the skill being used
🎯

Try This!

Ask Max a simple question about your data, such as "What were our sales last month?" or "Show me top performing products"

Understanding Max's Responses

When Max responds to your question, you'll receive two types of information:

1. Chat Response

The text answer appears directly in the conversation. This is a summarized version designed to quickly answer your question.

2. Artifacts (Detailed Analysis)

Click the white card above the chat response to open detailed artifacts on the right side, which may include:

  • Charts and visualizations
  • Data tables
  • Detailed insights
  • Analysis parameters used
💡

Pro Tip

You can expand artifacts to full-screen mode using the expand icon in the top-right corner of the artifact panel.

Working with Responses

Essential Actions

Below each response from Max, you'll find several action buttons:

  1. Copy to Clipboard 📋

    • Copies the chat response text
    • Perfect for sharing insights or creating reports

  2. Provide Feedback 👍 👎

    • Positive feedback: Tell admins what worked well
    • Negative feedback: Help improve the system
    • Your feedback icon will show a colored circle after submission

  3. Download Data 📥

    • Available in the artifact panel
    • Export underlying data as spreadsheets
🚨

For Admins

Additional options are available to you:

  • Add to Collection: Save questions for testing and monitoring
  • Classification Tags: Categorize responses for systematic improvement
  • Access feedback through Query Browser or Skill Studio's monitoring platform

Advanced Chat Features

Editing and Managing Questions

You can modify your conversation history:

  1. Hover over any of your questions to reveal action icons
  2. Edit ✏️: Modify and rerun the question
    • Click the pencil icon
    • Edit your question
    • Click the checkmark to confirm or X to cancel
  3. Delete 🗑️: Remove the question and its response
⚠️

Note

You can only edit or delete your most recent question. Previous questions become part of the conversation history.

Using Data Values Efficiently

Max includes a powerful feature for finding exact data values:

  1. Type @ in the chat input
  2. A popup shows all available dimension values from your dataset
  3. Navigate by:
    • Scrolling through the main list
    • Using category groups on the right
    • Typing to filter results
  4. Click any value to insert it exactly as it appears in your data
🎯

Challenge

Try asking a question using the @ symbol to include a specific product, brand, or location from your data. For example: "Show me sales for @[your-product-name] last quarter"

Managing Multiple Conversations

The chat panel (left side) helps you organize conversations:

  1. Click the chat icon to expand the panel
  2. View tabs:
    • All: Complete chat history
    • Unread: Messages you haven't viewed
    • In Progress: Currently processing questions
  3. Visual indicators:
    • Blue dot = Unread message
    • Spinner = Processing
    • Number badge = Count of unread messages

Best Practices for Effective Conversations

1. Talk to Max Like a Human

  • Use natural language
  • Include business context
  • Ask follow-up questions naturally

✅ Good: "How did our pasta products perform last quarter compared to the previous quarter?"

❌ Avoid: "SELECT sales FROM products WHERE category='pasta' AND quarter='Q4'"

2. Use Follow-Up Questions

Max maintains conversation context, so you can build on previous questions:

Initial question: "Show me top selling brands"
Follow-up: "Now break that down by region"
Further refinement: "Focus just on the eastern region"

3. Handle Missing Information

If Max needs additional information, it will prompt you. Use the @ symbol to find and select the exact values needed.

💡

Pro Tip

If Max seems confused by your question, try rephrasing with more specific business terms or breaking it into smaller parts.

Advanced Features

Working with Long-Running Analyses

Some analyses may take longer to complete:

  1. You can navigate away - the analysis continues in the background
  2. Check the Unread section in the chat panel for completed analyses
  3. In-progress questions show a spinner icon

Accessing Previous Analyses

To return to a previous analysis:

  1. Use the chat history panel
  2. Search for specific conversations using the search bar
  3. Start fresh with the + button for a new conversation

Account Management

Access your account settings by clicking your profile icon:

  • View and edit your name and email
  • Change your password
  • Generate API keys (if permitted)
  • Check the current Max version
🔐

API Access

If you have API permissions, you can generate client keys for programmatic access to Max. Remember to securely store these keys and revoke them when no longer needed.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Question Not Producing Expected Results?

  1. Rephrase using different terminology
  2. Be more specific about time periods, metrics, or dimensions
  3. Break complex questions into simpler parts
  4. Use the @ symbol to ensure exact data matches

Need to Report an Issue?

  1. Use the negative feedback button
  2. Provide specific details about what went wrong
  3. Contact your admin for persistent issues
📞

Admin Support

Admins can access detailed diagnostics through:

  • Query Browser for individual question analysis
  • Monitoring platform in Skill Studio for systematic issues
  • Classification system for categorizing and tracking problems

Summary

Mastering Max Chat enables you to:

  • Extract insights from data using natural language
  • Build complex analyses through conversational interactions
  • Share findings easily with download and copy features
  • Contribute to system improvement through feedback

Remember: Max is designed to understand business language, so communicate naturally and use the available tools to refine your questions when needed.

🎯

Final Challenge

Put it all together by:

  1. Starting a new conversation
  2. Asking an initial question about your data
  3. Following up with a refinement
  4. Using @ to add a specific dimension value
  5. Downloading the results
  6. Providing feedback on the experience

Congratulations! You're now ready to explore your data with Max Chat.

Updated 6 days ago