How to update Active Directory from Excel

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

To establish a connection, set the following properties:

• Valid User and Password credentials (e.g., Domain\BobF or cn=Bob F,ou=Employees,dc=Domain).
• Server information, including the IP or host name of the Server, as well as the Port.

• BaseDN: This will limit the scope of LDAP searches to the height of the distinguished name provided.

  Note: Specifying a narrow BaseDN may greatly increase performance; for example, cn=users,dc=domain will only return results contained within cn=users and its children.

Retrieve Data from Active Directory

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

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

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, =MyUserSheetInExcel!A1.
2. After using a formula to reference the cells you want to add to Active Directory, 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 User 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.