Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Excel Online ODBC Driver to get started:

 Download Now

Learn more:

Excel Online Icon Excel Online ODBC Driver

The Excel Online ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Excel Online data, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Excel Online Spreadsheet data like you would a database - read, write, and update data through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

Use the CData ODBC Driver for Excel Online in Microsoft Power Query



You can use the CData Excel Online ODBC Driver with Microsoft Power Query. In this article, you will use the ODBC driver to import Excel Online data into Microsoft Power Query.

The CData ODBC Driver for Excel Online enables you to link to Excel Online data in Microsoft Power Query, ensuring that you see any updates. This article details how to use the ODBC driver to import Excel Online data into Microsoft Power Query.

Connect to Excel Online as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

You can connect to a workbook by providing authentication to Excel Online and then setting the following properties:

  • Workbook: Set this to the name or Id of the workbook.

    If you want to view a list of information about the available workbooks, execute a query to the Workbooks view after you authenticate.

  • UseSandbox: Set this to true if you are connecting to a workbook in a sandbox account. Otherwise, leave this blank to connect to a production account.

You use the OAuth authentication standard to authenticate to Excel Online. See the Getting Started section in the help documentation for a guide. Getting Started also guides you through executing SQL to worksheets and ranges.

Import Excel Online Data

Follow the steps below to import Excel Online data using standard SQL:

  1. From the ribbon in Excel, click Power Query -> From Other Data Sources -> From ODBC.

  2. Enter the ODBC connection string. Below is a connection string using the default DSN created when you install the driver: Provider=MSDASQL.1;Persist Security Info=False;DSN=CData ExcelOnline Source
  3. Enter the SELECT statement to import data with. For example:

    SELECT Id, Column1 FROM Test_xlsx_Sheet1
  4. Enter credentials, if required, and click Connect. The results of the query are displayed in the Query Editor Preview. You can combine queries from other data sources or refine the data with Power Query formulas. To load the query to the worksheet, click the Close and Load button.