How to update Dynamics 365 Business Central from Excel

The CData Excel Add-In for Dynamics 365 Business Central enables you to edit and save Dynamics 365 Business Central data directly from Excel. This article explains how to transfer data from Excel to Dynamics 365 Business Central. This technique is useful if you want to work on Dynamics 365 Business Central data in Excel and update changes, or if you have a whole spreadsheet you want to import into Dynamics 365 Business Central. In this example, you will use the Accounts 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 Dynamics 365 Business Central connection by clicking From Dynamics 365 Business Central on the ribbon.

To authenticate to Dynamics 365 Business Central, you must provide the User and AccessKey properties.

To obtain the User and AccessKey values, navigate to the Users page in Dynamics 365 Business Central and then click on Edit. The User Name and Web Service Access Key values are what you will enter as the User and AccessKey connection string properties. Note that the User Name is not your email address. It is a shortened user name.

To connect to data, specify OrganizationUrl. If you have multiple companies in your organization, you must also specify the Company to indicate which company you would like to connect to. Company does not need to be specified if you have only one company.

Retrieve Data from Dynamics 365 Business Central

To insert data into Dynamics 365 Business Central, you will first need to retrieve data from the Dynamics 365 Business Central table you want to add to. This links the Excel spreadsheet to the Dynamics 365 Business Central table selected: After you retrieve data, any changes you make to the data are highlighted in red.

1. Click the From Dynamics 365 Business Central button on the CData ribbon. The Data Selection wizard is displayed.
2. In the Table or View menu, select the Accounts 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 Dynamics 365 Business Central

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, =MyAccountsSheetInExcel!A1.
2. After using a formula to reference the cells you want to add to Dynamics 365 Business Central, 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 Accounts 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.