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

Cameron Leblanc
Cameron Leblanc
Senior Technology Evangelist
Use Connect Spreadsheets by CData to gain access to live Bitbucket data from your Excel spreadsheets.

Looking for Connect AI instructions?

Your Connect AI account includes Connect Spreadsheets, so you can use the instructions below. You can expect minor differences when referencing the Connect Spreadsheet platform, but the principles still apply!


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 Bitbucket data directly within Excel, facilitating data analysis, collaboration, calculations, and more. This article shows how to connect to Bitbucket in Connect Spreadsheets and access and update live Bitbucket 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.

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


Configure Bitbucket Connectivity for Excel

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

  1. Log into Connect Spreadsheets, click Connections and click Add Connection Adding a Connection
  2. Select "Bitbucket" from the Add Connection panel Selecting a data source
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Bitbucket.

    For most queries, you must set the Workspace. The only exception to this is the Workspaces table, which does not require this property to be set, as querying it provides a list of workspace slugs that can be used to set Workspace. To query this table, you must set Schema to 'Information' and execute the query SELECT * FROM Workspaces>.

    Setting Schema to 'Information' displays general information. To connect to Bitbucket, set these parameters:

    • Schema: To show general information about a workspace, such as its users, repositories, and projects, set this to Information. Otherwise, set this to the schema of the repository or project you are querying. To get a full set of available schemas, query the sys_schemas table.
    • Workspace: Required if you are not querying the Workspaces table. This property is not required for querying the Workspaces table, as that query only returns a list of workspace slugs that can be used to set Workspace.

    Authenticating to Bitbucket

    Bitbucket supports OAuth authentication only. To enable this authentication from all OAuth flows, you must create a custom OAuth application, and set AuthScheme to OAuth.

    Be sure to review the Help documentation for the required connection properties for you specific authentication needs (desktop applications, web applications, and headless machines).

    Creating a custom OAuth application

    From your Bitbucket account:

    1. Go to Settings (the gear icon) and select Workspace Settings.
    2. In the Apps and Features section, select OAuth Consumers.
    3. Click Add Consumer.
    4. Enter a name and description for your custom application.
    5. Set the callback URL:
      • For desktop applications and headless machines, use http://localhost:33333 or another port number of your choice. The URI you set here becomes the CallbackURL property.
      • For web applications, set the callback URL to a trusted redirect URL. This URL is the web location the user returns to with the token that verifies that your application has been granted access.
    6. If you plan to use client credentials to authenticate, you must select This is a private consumer. In the driver, you must set AuthScheme to client.
    7. Select which permissions to give your OAuth application. These determine what data you can read and write with it.
    8. To save the new custom application, click Save.
    9. After the application has been saved, you can select it to view its settings. The application's Key and Secret are displayed. Record these for future use. You will use the Key to set the OAuthClientId and the Secret to set the OAuthClientSecret.
    Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
  4. Click Create & Test
  5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Bitbucket Connection page and update the User-based permissions. Updating permissions

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

Access Live Bitbucket Data in Excel

The steps below outline connecting to Connect Spreadsheets from Excel to access live Bitbucket 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. 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 Authorizing the Add-In
  6. In the Connect Spreadsheets panel in Excel, click Import Connect Spreadsheets panel in Excel
  7. Choose a Connection (e.g. Bitbucket1), Table (e.g. Issues), and Columns to import Connect Spreadsheets panel in Excel
  8. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit Choosing a Connection, Table, and Columns
  9. Click Execute to import the data and opt to overwrite the existing sheet or create a new one. Executing the Query

Update Bitbucket Data from Excel

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

  1. Update any cell or cells with changes you want to push to Bitbucket (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") Executing the update (Salesforce is shown).
  4. Click Execute to push the updates to Bitbucket

A notification will appear when the update is complete

Update complete (Salesforce is shown).

Live Access to Bitbucket Data from Spreadsheet Apps

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

Imported data (Salesforce is shown)

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

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