Access Live Backlog Data in Excel (Desktop) through Connect Spreadsheets

Microsoft Excel is a widely used spreadsheet software application, primarily used for tasks related to data management, analysis, and visualization. When combined with Connect Spreadsheets by CData, you gain immediate access to Backlog data directly within Excel, facilitating data analysis, collaboration, calculations, and more. This article shows how to connect to Backlog in Connect Spreadsheets and access and update live Backlog data in Excel spreadsheets.

Connect Spreadsheets is the easiest way to get all your live data into Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets - no more downloading, wrangling, and uploading files again. Just connect to your data, select the dataset you'd like to see, and import it into your spreadsheet.

Configure Backlog Connectivity for Excel

Connectivity to Backlog from Excel is made possible through Connect Spreadsheets. To work with Backlog data from Excel, we start by creating and configuring a Backlog connection.

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

   In order to authenticate using the API Key, specify the following:

   • AuthScheme: Set to APIToken.
   • API Key: Set to the API Key that allows you to make requests to the Backlog API. You can generate this key by opening the Settings page in Backlog and selecting the API section.
   • URL: Set to the your Backlog tenant URL.

   In order to authenticate using OAuth, set AuthScheme to "OAuth" and refer to the Help documentation.

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

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Backlog data from Excel.

Access Live Backlog Data in Excel

The steps below outline connecting to Connect Spreadsheets from Excel to access live Backlog data.

1. Open Excel, create a new sheet (or open an existing one).
2. Click Insert and click Get Add-ins. (if you have already installed the Add-In, jump to step 4).
3. Search for Connect Spreadsheets and install the Add-in.
4. Click Data and open the CData Connect Spreadsheets Add-In.
5. In the Add-In panel, click "Log in" to authenticate with your Connect Spreadsheets account
6. In the Connect Spreadsheets panel in Excel, click Import
7. Choose a Connection (e.g. Backlog1), Table (e.g. Issues), and Columns to import
8. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit
9. Click Execute to import the data and opt to overwrite the existing sheet or create a new one.

Update Backlog Data from Excel

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

1. Update any cell or cells with changes you want to push to Backlog (your changes will be in red)
2. In the Connect Spreadsheets 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 Backlog

A notification will appear when the update is complete

Live Access to Backlog Data from Spreadsheet Apps

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

Try Connect Spreadsheets and get real-time data access to 100+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from Microsoft Excel.