Access Live Dynamics 365 Business Central Data in Excel 365

Microsoft Excel 365 is a cloud-native version of Microsoft Excel. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, you can instantly access Dynamics 365 Business Central data from within Excel 365 for data analysis, collaborations, calculations, and more. This article shows how to connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central in your Connect Cloud instance and access and update live Dynamics 365 Business Central data in Excel 365 spreadsheets.

CData Connect Cloud provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Dynamics 365 Business Central, allowing you to easily access live Dynamics 365 Business Central data in Excel 365. Simply use the partner Connect Cloud Add-In to generate a query (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 Dynamics 365 Business Central, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Dynamics 365 Business Central data.

Connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central in Connect Cloud

CData Connect Cloud uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "Dynamics 365 Business Central" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central.

   To authenticate to Dynamics 365 Business Central, you must provide the User and AccessKey properties.

   To obtain the User and AccessKey values, navigate to the Users page in Dynamics 365 Business Central and then click on Edit. The User Name and Web Service Access Key values are what you will enter as the User and AccessKey connection string properties. Note that the User Name is not your email address. It is a shortened user name.

   To connect to data, specify OrganizationUrl. If you have multiple companies in your organization, you must also specify the Company to indicate which company you would like to connect to. Company does not need to be specified if you have only one company.

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Dynamics 365 Business Central Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central data from Excel 365.

Access Live Dynamics 365 Business Central Data in Excel 365

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect Cloud from Excel 365 to access live Dynamics 365 Business Central data.

1. Log into Excel 365, 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 365, click Import
7. Choose a Connection (e.g. D365BusinessCentral1), Table (e.g. Accounts), and Columns to import
8. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit
9. Click Execute to import the data

Update Dynamics 365 Business Central Data from Excel 365

In addition to viewing Dynamics 365 Business Central data in Excel 365, CData Connect Cloud also lets you update and delete Dynamics 365 Business Central data. Begin by importing data (as described above).

1. Update any cell or cells with changes you want to push to Dynamics 365 Business Central (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 Dynamics 365 Business Central

A notification will appear when the update is complete

Live Access to Dynamics 365 Business Central Data from Cloud Applications

New, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Dynamics 365 Business Central data from your Excel 365 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.