How to update Snowflake from Excel

The CData Excel Add-In for Snowflake enables you to edit and save Snowflake data directly from Excel. This article explains how to transfer data from Excel to Snowflake. This technique is useful if you want to work on Snowflake data in Excel and update changes, or if you have a whole spreadsheet you want to import into Snowflake. In this example, you will use the Products 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 Snowflake connection by clicking From Snowflake on the ribbon.

To connect to Snowflake:

1. Set User and Password to your Snowflake credentials and set the AuthScheme property to PASSWORD or OKTA.
2. Set URL to the URL of the Snowflake instance (i.e.: https://myaccount.snowflakecomputing.com).
3. Set Warehouse to the Snowflake warehouse.
4. (Optional) Set Account to your Snowflake account if your URL does not conform to the format above.
5. (Optional) Set Database and Schema to restrict the tables and views exposed.

See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for more information.

Retrieve Data from Snowflake

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

1. Click the From Snowflake button on the CData ribbon. The Data Selection wizard is displayed.
2. In the Table or View menu, select the Products 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 Snowflake

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, =MyProductsSheetInExcel!A1.
2. After using a formula to reference the cells you want to add to Snowflake, 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 Products 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.