Access Live Google Contacts Data in Excel (Desktop)



Use Connect Spreadsheets by CData to gain access to live Google Contacts data from your Excel spreadsheets.

Looking for Connect Cloud instructions?

Your Connect Cloud account includes Connect Spreadsheets, so you can use the instructions below. You can expect minor differences when referencing the Connect Spreadsheet platform, but the principles still apply!


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 Google Contacts data directly within Excel, facilitating data analysis, collaboration, calculations, and more. This article shows how to connect to Google Contacts in Connect Spreadsheets and access and update live Google Contacts 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.

This setup requires a Connect Spreadsheets account and the Connect Spreadsheets Add-In for Excel. To get started, sign up a free trial of Connect Spreadsheets and install the free Connect Spreadsheets Excel Add-In.


Configure Google Contacts Connectivity for Excel

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

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

    You can connect to Google APIs on behalf of individual users or on behalf of a domain. Google uses the OAuth authentication standard. See the "Getting Started" section of the help documentation for a guide.

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

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Google Contacts data from Excel.

Access Live Google Contacts Data in Excel

The steps below outline connecting to Connect Spreadsheets from Excel to access live Google Contacts 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. GoogleContacts1), Table (e.g. Friends), 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 Google Contacts Data from Excel

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

  1. Update any cell or cells with changes you want to push to Google Contacts (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 Google Contacts

A notification will appear when the update is complete

Live Access to Google Contacts Data from Spreadsheet Apps

New, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Google Contacts 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.

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