How to update WordPress from Excel

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

To connect to WordPress, set the URL property and other authentication properties. WordPress supports Basic (User and Password) and OAuth2.0 authentication, though Basic is recommended for a testing environment only. To connect with OAuth you will need to register an app with WordPress.

See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for more information.

Retrieve Data from WordPress

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

1. Click the From WordPress button on the CData ribbon. The Data Selection wizard is displayed.
2. In the Table or View menu, select the Categories 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 WordPress

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, =MyCategoriesSheetInExcel!A1.
2. After using a formula to reference the cells you want to add to WordPress, 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 Categories 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.