# Choose your path

> Which kind of data you have, where it goes in Dimension Labs, and the fastest way to get it there.

There are two questions: **what kind of data is it**, and **how will it get in**.


## What kind of data is it?

**Conversation data** is anything a person wrote or said:

- chats with a bot or a human agent
- support tickets and emails
- call transcripts
- reviews (Google, app stores, review sites)
- open-ended survey answers
- social posts and forum threads

It goes under **Data Sources > Unstructured data** and is enriched into [Dimensions](/dimensions): automatically every day for a live integration, and by a [backfill](/dimensions/backfill) for a file upload. Format: [Conversation data format](/data/conversation-format).

**Business data** is anything in plain rows and columns:

- revenue, orders, refunds
- renewals and churn dates
- accounts, plans, tiers
- store or location lists
- product usage
- survey scores without the text

It goes under **Data Sources > Structured data**, by file upload (an API for it is on the roadmap). It is queryable within about a minute and is never enriched. Format: [Business data format](/data/business-data-format).

Most valuable questions need both: what customers said, joined to what they did. See [Join business data](/data/join-business-data).

:::tip
A survey export usually holds both kinds. The open-ended answers are conversation data. The scores, dates and respondent fields can travel with them as extra columns, or go in as business data keyed on the respondent id.
:::

## How will it get in?

| Route | Use it when | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| **Upload a file** | You can export a CSV, TSV or JSONL file (or an Excel file, which the converter turns into a CSV). Also the right route for history. Any size: Dimension Labs splits a large file for you. | [Upload a file](/data/upload-a-file) |
| **An integration** | You want new conversations to keep arriving from Zendesk, Intercom, Qualtrics, Snowflake or another tool. | [Integrations](/integrations) |
| **The API** | Your own systems send messages as they happen, to `/track`. Anything older than an hour goes to `/trackhistorical`. | [When to use the API](/api) |

## Before you upload

1. Export the file from your source system. Avoid opening it in Excel and saving it again: that is the cause of most format problems. If your source gives you an Excel file, keep the `.xlsx`.
2. If your columns are already named `text`, `userId`, `incoming`, `sessionId` and `dimensionlabs_timestamp`, run the file through the [file checker](/data/check-a-file). Otherwise, use the [converter](/data/convert-a-file) to map them, then run its output through the checker. Both work in your browser, without uploading anything.
3. Leave out personal data: no emails, phone numbers or names as ids or extra columns ([PII redaction](/data/pii-redaction)).
4. [Upload the file](/data/upload-a-file), then start a backfill from the **Backfill** tab.

If your export needs more than renamed columns (a transcript in one cell, HTML bodies, nested JSON), see [Transform your data](/transform).