How to update Certinia from Excel

The CData Excel Add-In for Certinia enables you to edit and save Certinia data directly from Excel. This article explains how to transfer data from Excel to Certinia. This technique is useful if you want to work on Certinia data in Excel and update changes, or if you have a whole spreadsheet you want to import into Certinia. In this example, you will use the Account table; however, the same process will work for any table that can be retrieved by the CData Excel Add-In.

Establish a Connection

If you have not already done so, create a new Certinia connection by clicking From Certinia on the ribbon.

There are several authentication methods available for connecting to Certinia: login credentials, SSO, and OAuth.

Authenticating with a Login and Token

Set the User and Password to your login credentials. Additionally, set the SecurityToken. By default, the SecurityToken is required, but you can make it optional by allowing a range of trusted IP addresses.

To disable the security token:

1. Log in to Certinia and enter "Network Access" in the Quick Find box in the setup section.
2. Add your IP address to the list of trusted IP addresses.

To obtain the security token:

1. Open the personal information page on certinia.com.
2. Click the link to reset your security token. The token will be emailed to you.
3. Specify the security token in the SecurityToken connection property or append it to the Password.

Authenticating with OAuth

If you do not have access to the user name and password or do not want to require them, use the OAuth user consent flow. See the OAuth section in the Help for an authentication guide.

Connecting to Certinia Sandbox Accounts

Set UseSandbox to true (false by default) to use a Certinia sandbox account. Ensure that you specify a sandbox user name in User.

Retrieve Data from Certinia

To insert data into Certinia, you will first need to retrieve data from the Certinia table you want to add to. This links the Excel spreadsheet to the Certinia table selected: After you retrieve data, any changes you make to the data are highlighted in red.

1. Click the From Certinia button on the CData ribbon. The Data Selection wizard is displayed.
2. In the Table or View menu, select the Account table.
3. In the Maximum Rows menu, select the number of rows you want to retrieve. If you want to insert rows, you need to retrieve only one row. The Query box will then display the SQL query that corresponds to your request.
4. In the Sheet Name box, enter the name for the sheet that will be populated. By default the add-in will create a new sheet with the name of the table.

Insert Rows to Certinia

After retrieving data, you can add data from an existing spreadsheet in Excel.

1. In a cell after the last row, enter a formula referencing the corresponding cell from the other spreadsheet; for example, =MyAccountSheetInExcel!A1.
2. After using a formula to reference the cells you want to add to Certinia, select the cells that you are inserting data into and drag the formula down as far as needed. The referenced values you want to add will be displayed on the Account sheet.
3. Highlight the rows you want to insert and click the Update Rows button.

As each row is inserted, the Id value will appear in the Id column and the row's text will change to black, indicating that the record has been inserted.