Access Live Azure Active Directory Data in Excel 365 Online (Excel for the web)

Microsoft Excel for the web represents a cloud-native iteration of Microsoft Excel. When integrated with CData Connect Cloud, you gain immediate access to Azure Active Directory data directly from within Excel. This access facilitates data analysis, collaborative work, calculations, and more. This article provides a step-by-step guide on connecting to Azure Active Directory within your Connect Cloud instance and accessing live Azure Active Directory data in Excel for the web spreadsheets, whether for viewing or updating purposes.

CData Connect Cloud provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Azure Active Directory, allowing you to easily access live Azure Active Directory data in Excel for the web. Simply use the Connect Cloud Add-In to query live data (or write your own). Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Cloud pushes all supported query operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Azure Active Directory, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Azure Active Directory data.

Configure Azure Active Directory Connectivity for Excel

Connectivity to Azure Active Directory from Excel is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Azure Active Directory data from Excel, we start by creating and configuring a Azure Active Directory connection.

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

   Azure Active Directory uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, you will need to create an app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties. See the OAuth section in the Help documentation for an authentication guide.

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Azure Active Directory Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Azure Active Directory data from Excel for the web.

Access Live Azure Active Directory Data in Excel for the web

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect Cloud from Excel to access live Azure Active Directory data.

1. Log into Excel, create a new sheet (or open an existing one).
2. Click Insert and click Office Add-ins. (if you have already installed the Add-In, jump to step 4).
3. Search for CData Connect Cloud Add-In and install the Add-in.
4. Click Data and open the CData Connect Cloud Add-In.
5. In the Add-In panel, click Authorize to authenticate with your CData Connect Cloud instance
6. In the CData Connect Cloud panel in Excel, click Import
7. Choose a Connection (e.g. AzureAD1), Table (e.g. Domains), and Columns to import
8. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit
9. Click Execute to import the data

Update Azure Active Directory Data from Excel

In addition to viewing Azure Active Directory data in Excel, CData Connect Cloud also lets you update and delete Azure Active Directory data. Begin by importing data (as described above).

1. Update any cell or cells with changes you want to push to Azure Active Directory (your changes will be in red)
2. In the CData Connect Cloud Add-In panel, select Update
3. Optionally highlight the cell(s) you wish to update and select an update option ("Update All" or "Update Selected")
4. Click Execute to push the updates to Azure Active Directory

A notification will appear when the update is complete

Live Access to Azure Active Directory Data from Cloud Applications

New, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Azure Active Directory data from your Excel workbook. You can add more data to your workbook for calculations, aggregations, collaboration, and more.

Try CData Connect Cloud and get real-time data access to 100+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications.