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Access Live Act CRM Data in Excel 365 Online (Excel for the web)


Connect to Act CRM data from Excel 365 Online (Excel for the web) with CData Connect Cloud.

Microsoft Excel for the web represents a cloud-native iteration of Microsoft Excel. When integrated with CData Connect Cloud, you gain immediate access to Act CRM data directly from within Excel. This access facilitates data analysis, collaborative work, calculations, and more. This article provides a step-by-step guide on connecting to Act CRM within your Connect Cloud instance and accessing live Act CRM data in Excel for the web spreadsheets, whether for viewing or updating purposes.

CData Connect Cloud provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Act CRM, allowing you to easily access live Act CRM data in Excel for the web. Simply use the Connect Cloud Add-In to query live data (or write your own). Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Cloud pushes all supported query operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Act CRM, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Act CRM data.

This setup requires a CData Connect Cloud instance and the CData Connect Cloud Add-In for Excel. To get started, sign up a free trial of Connect Cloud and install the free Connect Cloud Excel Add-In.


Configure Act CRM Connectivity for Excel

Connectivity to Act CRM from Excel is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Act CRM data from Excel, we start by creating and configuring a Act CRM connection.

  1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
  2. Select "Act CRM" from the Add Connection panel
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Act CRM.

    The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid Act! user credentials. In addition to the authentication values, see the following:

    • Connecting to Act! Premium

      In addition to the authentication values, the URL to Act! is also required; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/.

      Additionally, you must specify the ActDatabase you will connect to. This is found by going to the About Act! Premium menu of your account, at the top right of the page, in the ? menu. Use the Database Name in the window that appears.

    • Connecting to Act! Premium Cloud

      To connect to your Act! Premium Cloud account, you also need to specify the ActCloudName property. This property is found in the URL address of the Cloud account; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/ActCloudName/.

    Note that retrieving ActCRM metadata can be expensive. It is advised that you set the CacheMetadata property to store the metadata locally.

  4. Click Create & Test
  5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Act CRM Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Act CRM data from Excel for the web.

Access Live Act CRM Data in Excel for the web

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect Cloud from Excel to access live Act CRM data.

  1. Log into Excel, create a new sheet (or open an existing one).
  2. Click Insert and click Office Add-ins. (if you have already installed the Add-In, jump to step 4).
  3. Search for CData Connect Cloud Add-In and install the Add-in.
  4. Click Data and open the CData Connect Cloud Add-In.
  5. In the Add-In panel, click Authorize to authenticate with your CData Connect Cloud instance
  6. In the CData Connect Cloud panel in Excel, click Import
  7. Choose a Connection (e.g. ActCRM1), Table (e.g. Activities), and Columns to import
  8. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit
  9. Click Execute to import the data

Update Act CRM Data from Excel

In addition to viewing Act CRM data in Excel, CData Connect Cloud also lets you update and delete Act CRM data. Begin by importing data (as described above).

  1. Update any cell or cells with changes you want to push to Act CRM (your changes will be in red)
  2. In the CData Connect Cloud Add-In panel, select Update
  3. Optionally highlight the cell(s) you wish to update and select an update option ("Update All" or "Update Selected")
  4. Click Execute to push the updates to Act CRM

A notification will appear when the update is complete

Live Access to Act CRM Data from Cloud Applications

New, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Act CRM data from your Excel workbook. You can add more data to your workbook for calculations, aggregations, collaboration, and more.

Try CData Connect Cloud and get real-time data access to 100+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications.