Access Live OData Services in Excel for the Web (Excel 365/Online)



Connect to OData services from Excel 365 Online (Excel for the web) with Connect 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 for the web represents a cloud-native iteration of Microsoft Excel. When combined with Connect Spreadsheets by CData, you gain immediate access to OData services directly within Excel, facilitating data analysis, collaboration, calculations, and more. This article shows how to connect to OData in Connect Spreadsheets and access and update live OData services in Excel spreadsheets online.

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.

About OData Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live OData services data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Access OData versions 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0, working with legacy services and the latest features and capabilities.
  • Leverage advanced query options, including $filter, $select, and $expand, enhancing data retrieval from 3rd party tools.
  • Use Server-side execution of aggregation and grouping to minimize data transfer and boost performance.
  • Authenticate securely using a variety of schemes, including Azure AD, digest, negotiate, NTLM, OAuth, and more means secure authentication with every connection.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to manage OData service entities - listing, creating, and removing associations between entities.

Customers use CData's solutions to regularly integrate their OData services with preferred tools, such as Power BI, MicroStrategy, or Tableau, and to replicate data from OData services to their databases or data warehouses.


Getting Started


This setup requires a Connect Spreadsheets instance 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 OData Connectivity for Excel

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

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

    The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid OData user credentials. In addition, you will need to specify a URL to a valid OData server organization root or OData services file.

  4. Click Create & Test

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to OData services from Excel for the web.

Access Live OData Services in Excel for the web

The steps below outline connecting to Connect Spreadsheets from Excel to access live OData services.

  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 Connect Spreadsheets and click "Get it now" to install the Add-in.
  4. Back in Excel, open the Data ribbon select and click the Connect Spreadsheets "Get Data" button.
  5. In the Add-In panel, click "Log in" to sign into and authenticate with your Connect Spreadsheets account
  6. In the Connect Spreadsheets panel in Excel, click Import
  7. Choose a Connection (e.g. OData1), Table (e.g. Orders), and Columns to import
  8. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit
  9. Click Execute to import the data

Update OData Services from Excel

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

  1. Update any cell or cells with changes you want to push to OData
  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 OData

A notification will appear when the update is complete

Live Access to OData Services from Spreadsheets

New, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live OData services 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 your spreadsheet apps.

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