Getting started

Note

Before installing, confirm that your machine meets the hardware requirements. The requirement is roughly 12 GB of GPU VRAM, or a Mac with an M3 Pro chip or better and 18 GB+ of unified memory.

1. Install the app

Download the installer for your platform from the download page.

Windows

1. Run the downloaded .exe installer.
2. Windows SmartScreen may ask you to confirm. The installer is code-signed by Totsum.
3. Follow the wizard. When it finishes, Totsum appears in the Start menu.

macOS

1. Open the downloaded .pkg and follow the installer. It shows the license agreement, it puts Totsum and an Uninstall Totsum tool in Applications, and at the end it downloads the AI model, which the next section describes.
2. The installer and the app are notarized by Apple. On first launch, confirm the standard “downloaded from the internet” prompt if it appears.

2. The AI model

Totsum’s AI runs on your machine, so it needs its model there too. The model is a large file of ~7 GB, and it is downloaded once. The installer downloads it during setup, from our own download server, and verifies it against a fingerprint built into the installer.

• Allow time for this step during installation on a normal connection. The download resumes if it is interrupted.
• Your files and questions are not part of this download. It is an ordinary fetch of the model file.
• If the target machine has no internet, use the offline installation path.

3. Enter your key

Totsum does not run without a license key.

If you bought a license, the key is in your license e-mail. If you want the free trial, ask for a key at /try: you accept the license agreement on the page that the e-mail links to, and the key follows.

Paste the key in Help → License…, or in the key screen shown at start-up. Keys are verified on your device, so you need no account and no network connection for this step.

4. Ask your first question

1. Import a file. Drag a CSV, Excel, JSON or Parquet file into the window. Excel workbooks with several sheets are supported, and each sheet becomes a table.
2. Ask in plain language. An example question is “What were total sales per region in 2025, highest first?”
3. Read the preview. You get a plain-language answer, a chart, a preview of the rows behind it, and the query that led to them. A question can span several imported files. Totsum looks for the relevant tables and joins them.
4. Triage it. Mark the preview Shortlisted or Ruled out, then ask the next question. When you shortlist a result, add your note on its Review tab while it is fresh. Write down why you kept it and what looks odd. The note travels into the report for your reviewer.

5. Read how it got there

Unless a query is too complex to translate faithfully, it is also shown as a Query Flow. The flow lists the sources, filters, groupings, calculations, sorts and joins of the query, step by step and in plain language.

• Each step shows how many rows it produced.
• Hover over a step to preview example rows, where they are available.
• Open the SQL tab to inspect the generated query directly.

If a step does not match your intent, for example because a filter was interpreted differently than you meant, rephrase your question more precisely and ask again. Reading the flow tells you what was computed. The verdict on a result is recorded later, by whoever reviews your follow-up report, and that is the next step.

6. Hand your shortlist to your reviewer

The reviewer is the person you choose to check the numbers before anyone relies on them: a colleague, your accountant, an analyst, or you, if that is your competence. The reviewer is not an AI, and not someone Totsum supplies.

The Validate pane is where reports live. It stays empty until you have shortlisted something worth your reviewer’s time, and it says so.

Create the report

1. Press + New and name the report. A dated title is prefilled.
2. Tick the shortlisted results that should travel. A result can belong to one report.
3. Choose the sections that each result carries: the question, the chart, the data sample, the statistics, the query flow and the SQL. Everything opens ticked, so the full document is the default.

The report opens with a statement that it is a first look, recorded for a qualified reviewer to judge.

If your reviewer is at your desk

Record Valid, Invalid or Inconclusive against each result on the open report, and fill in the Reviewer line. There is no Save button, because a verdict is stored the moment it is clicked.

If your reviewer is somewhere else

1. Export PDF… produces the finished, flat report. That is the file you e-mail.
2. Export review PDF… produces the fillable review copy. Its checkbox verdicts and note fields work in the PDF reader that every computer already has, such as Preview, Edge, Chrome or Firefox. Its reviewer line is empty on purpose, for whoever signs.
3. Import review… brings the filled copy back. The verdicts and your reviewer’s notes land beside your results, together with who judged and when, so you keep a record of what was checked and what they concluded.

On the free trial

Exports go through the license. On the free trial, the whole loop works on screen. See licensing for the details.

7. Save your work

File → Save workspace saves the whole workspace as a single .totsum file. That file holds your data, your questions and your results. The workspace file page describes what is inside it.

Trial limits

The free trial includes unlimited questions on the 3 bundled sample datasets, plus 10 questions on your own imported files. It has no time limit and needs no account.

On the trial, charts and query-flow diagrams carry a watermark, and nothing can be exported.

The trial runs on a free key sent by e-mail. See Licensing for how to get the key, and for what Personal and Commercial add.

Uninstalling

On Windows, use the normal uninstaller under Settings → Apps. On macOS, run the Uninstall Totsum tool that the installer put in Applications. Dragging the app to the Trash leaves the trial usage record in place, whereas the tool removes it too. Where Totsum keeps its files lists what may stay in place after uninstalling, and where to find it.