Access Live Azure Table Data in Excel (Desktop) through Connect Spreadsheets

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

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

1. Log into Connect Spreadsheets, click Connections and click Add Connection 👁 Adding a Connection
   
2. Select "Azure Table" from the Add Connection panel 👁 Selecting a data source
   
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Azure Table.

   Specify your AccessKey and your Account to connect. Set the Account property to the Storage Account Name and set AccessKey to one of the Access Keys. Either the Primary or Secondary Access Keys can be used. To obtain these values, navigate to the Storage Accounts blade in the Azure portal. You can obtain the access key by selecting your account and clicking Access Keys in the Settings section.

   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Azure Table Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions
   

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

Access Live Azure Table Data in Excel

The steps below outline connecting to Connect Spreadsheets from Excel to access live Azure Table 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. 👁 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 👁 Authorizing the Add-In
   
6. In the Connect Spreadsheets panel in Excel, click Import 👁 Connect Spreadsheets panel in Excel
   
7. Choose a Connection (e.g. AzureTables1), Table (e.g. NorthwindProducts), and Columns to import 👁 Connect Spreadsheets panel in Excel
   
8. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit 👁 Choosing a Connection, Table, and Columns
   
9. Click Execute to import the data and opt to overwrite the existing sheet or create a new one. 👁 Executing the Query
   

Update Azure Table Data from Excel

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

1. Update any cell or cells with changes you want to push to Azure Table (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") 👁 Executing the update (Salesforce is shown).
   
4. Click Execute to push the updates to Azure Table

A notification will appear when the update is complete

Live Access to Azure Table Data from Spreadsheet Apps

New, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Azure Table 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 hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from Microsoft Excel.