Integrate Smartsheet Data in Pentaho Data Integration



Build ETL pipelines based on Smartsheet data in the Pentaho Data Integration tool.

The CData JDBC Driver for Smartsheet enables access to live data from data pipelines. Pentaho Data Integration is an Extraction, Transformation, and Loading (ETL) engine that data, cleanses the data, and stores data using a uniform format that is accessible.This article shows how to connect to Smartsheet data as a JDBC data source and build jobs and transformations based on Smartsheet data in Pentaho Data Integration.

About Smartsheet Data Integration

CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from Smartsheet. Customers use CData connectivity to:

  • Read and write attachments, columns, comments and discussions.
  • View the data in individuals cells, report on cell history, and more.
  • Perform Smartsheet-specific actions like deleting or downloading attachments, creating, copying, deleting, or moving sheets, and moving or copying rows to another sheet.

Users frequently integrate Smartsheet with analytics tools such as Tableau, Crystal Reports, and Excel. Others leverage our tools to replicate Smartsheet data to databases or data warehouses.


Getting Started


Configure to Smartsheet Connectivity

Smartsheet uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, register an app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties.

However, for testing purposes you can instead use the Personal Access Token you get when you create an application; set this to the OAuthAccessToken connection property.

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Smartsheet JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

java -jar cdata.jdbc.smartsheet.jar

Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

When you configure the JDBC URL, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Below is a typical JDBC URL:

jdbc:smartsheet:OAuthClientId=MyOauthClientId;OAuthClientSecret=MyOAuthClientSecret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH

Save your connection string for use in Pentaho Data Integration.

Connect to Smartsheet from Pentaho DI

Open Pentaho Data Integration and select "Database Connection" to configure a connection to the CData JDBC Driver for Smartsheet

  1. Click "General"
  2. Set Connection name (e.g. Smartsheet Connection)
  3. Set Connection type to "Generic database"
  4. Set Access to "Native (JDBC)"
  5. Set Custom connection URL to your Smartsheet connection string (e.g.
    jdbc:smartsheet:OAuthClientId=MyOauthClientId;OAuthClientSecret=MyOAuthClientSecret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH
  6. Set Custom driver class name to "cdata.jdbc.smartsheet.SmartsheetDriver"
  7. Test the connection and click "OK" to save.

Create a Data Pipeline for Smartsheet

Once the connection to Smartsheet is configured using the CData JDBC Driver, you are ready to create a new transformation or job.

  1. Click "File" >> "New" >> "Transformation/job"
  2. Drag a "Table input" object into the workflow panel and select your Smartsheet connection.
  3. Click "Get SQL select statement" and use the Database Explorer to view the available tables and views.
  4. Select a table and optionally preview the data for verification.

At this point, you can continue your transformation or jb by selecting a suitable destination and adding any transformations to modify, filter, or otherwise alter the data during replication.

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Smartsheet and start working with your live Smartsheet data in Pentaho Data Integration today.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Smartsheet Driver to get started:

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Learn more:

Smartsheet Icon Smartsheet JDBC Driver

Easy-to-use Smartsheet client enables Java-based applications to easily consume Smartsheet Sheets, Contacts, Folders, Groups, Users, etc.