Access Live Azure Synapse Data in Excel (Desktop)

Microsoft Excel is a widely used spreadsheet software application, primarily used for tasks related to data management, analysis, and visualization. When combined with Connect Spreadsheets by CData, you gain immediate access to Azure Synapse data directly within Excel, facilitating data analysis, collaboration, calculations, and more. This article shows how to connect to Azure Synapse in Connect Spreadsheets and access and update live Azure Synapse data in Excel spreadsheets.

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.

Configure Azure Synapse Connectivity for Excel

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

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

   Connecting to Azure Synapse

   In addition to providing authentication (see below), set the following properties to connect to a Azure Synapse database:

   • Server: The server running Azure. You can find this by logging into the Azure portal and navigating to Azure Synapse Analytics -> Select your database -> Overview -> Server name.
   • Database: The name of the database, as seen in the Azure portal on the Azure Synapse Analytics page.

   Authenticating to Azure Synapse

   Connect to Azure Synapse using the following properties:

   • User: The username provided for authentication with Azure.
   • Password: The password associated with the authenticating user.
4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Azure Synapse Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Azure Synapse data from Excel.

Access Live Azure Synapse Data in Excel

The steps below outline connecting to Connect Spreadsheets from Excel to access live Azure Synapse data.

1. Open Excel, create a new sheet (or open an existing one).
2. Click Insert and click Get Add-ins. (if you have already installed the Add-In, jump to step 4).
3. Search for Connect Spreadsheets and install the Add-in.
4. Click Data and open the CData Connect Spreadsheets Add-In.
5. In the Add-In panel, click "Log in" to authenticate with your Connect Spreadsheets account
6. In the Connect Spreadsheets panel in Excel, click Import
7. Choose a Connection (e.g. AzureSynapse1), Table (e.g. Products), and Columns to import
8. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit
9. Click Execute to import the data and opt to overwrite the existing sheet or create a new one.

Update Azure Synapse Data from Excel

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

1. Update any cell or cells with changes you want to push to Azure Synapse (your changes will be in red)
2. In the Connect Spreadsheets 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 Synapse

A notification will appear when the update is complete

Live Access to Azure Synapse Data from Spreadsheet Apps

New, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Azure Synapse data from your Excel 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 Microsoft Excel.