Access Live Paylocity Data in Google Sheets



Use Connect Spreadsheets by CData to gain access to live Paylocity data from your Google Sheets.

Looking for Connect Cloud instructions?

Your Connect Cloud 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!


Google Sheets is a web-based spreadsheet program provided by Google. When integrated with Connect Spreadsheets by CData, you can effortlessly gain access to Paylocity data directly within Google Sheets for tasks such as data analysis, collaboration, calculations, and more. This article offers a comprehensive guide on connecting to Paylocity within Connect Spreadsheets and accessing live Paylocity data seamlessly within Google Sheets.

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-On for Google Sheets. To get started, sign up a free Connect Spreadsheets account and install the free Connect Spreadsheets Google Sheets Add-On.


Configure Paylocity Connectivity for Google Sheets

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

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

    Set the following to establish a connection to Paylocity:

    • RSAPublicKey: Set this to the RSA Key associated with your Paylocity, if the RSA Encryption is enabled in the Paylocity account.

      This property is required for executing Insert and Update statements, and it is not required if the feature is disabled.

    • UseSandbox: Set to true if you are using sandbox account.
    • CustomFieldsCategory: Set this to the Customfields category. This is required when IncludeCustomFields is set to true. The default value for this property is PayrollAndHR.
    • Key: The AES symmetric key(base 64 encoded) encrypted with the Paylocity Public Key. It is the key used to encrypt the content.

      Paylocity will decrypt the AES key using RSA decryption.
      It is an optional property if the IV value not provided, The driver will generate a key internally.

    • IV: The AES IV (base 64 encoded) used when encrypting the content. It is an optional property if the Key value not provided, The driver will generate an IV internally.

    Connect Using OAuth Authentication

    You must use OAuth to authenticate with Paylocity. OAuth requires the authenticating user to interact with Paylocity using the browser. For more information, refer to the OAuth section in the Help documentation.

    The Pay Entry API

    The Pay Entry API is completely separate from the rest of the Paylocity API. It uses a separate Client ID and Secret, and must be explicitly requested from Paylocity for access to be granted for an account. The Pay Entry API allows you to automatically submit payroll information for individual employees, and little else. Due to the extremely limited nature of what is offered by the Pay Entry API, we have elected not to give it a separate schema, but it may be enabled via the UsePayEntryAPI connection property.

    Please be aware that when setting UsePayEntryAPI to true, you may only use the CreatePayEntryImportBatch & MergePayEntryImportBatchgtable stored procedures, the InputTimeEntry table, and the OAuth stored procedures. Attempts to use other features of the product will result in an error. You must also store your OAuthAccessToken separately, which often means setting a different OAuthSettingsLocation when using this connection property.

  4. Click Create & Test

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Paylocity data from Google Sheets.

Access Live Paylocity Data from Google Sheets

The steps below outline connecting to Connect Spreadsheets from Google Sheets to access live Paylocity data.

  1. Log into Google Sheets, create a new sheet (or open an existing one).
  2. Click Add-ons and click Get Add-ons (if you have already installed the Add-on, jump to step 5).
  3. Search for Connect Spreadsheets Add-On and install the Add-on.
  4. Authorize the Add-On.
  5. Back in Google Sheets, click Add-ons and open the Connect Spreadsheets Add-On.
  6. In the Add-On panel, click "Log in" to sign into and authenticate with your Connect Spreadsheets account
  7. In the Connect Spreadsheets panel in Google Sheets, click Import
  8. Choose a Connection (e.g. Paylocity1), Table (e.g. Employee, and Columns to import
  9. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit
  10. Click Execute to import the data and opt to overwrite the existing sheet or create a new one.

Live Access to Paylocity Data from Cloud Applications

New, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Paylocity data from your Google Sheets 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 your cloud applications.

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