Access Live Azure Synapse Data in Excel (Desktop) via Connect AI

Microsoft Excel is a widely used spreadsheet software application, primarily used for tasks related to data management, analysis, and visualization. When combined with CData Connect AI, you gain immediate access to Azure Synapse data directly within Excel, facilitating data analysis, collaboration, calculations, and more.This article shows how to connect to Azure Synapse in your Connect AI instance and access and update live Azure Synapse data in Excel spreadsheets.

CData Connect AI provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Azure Synapse, allowing you to easily access live Azure Synapse data in Excel for the web. Simply use the Connect AI Add-In to query live data (or write your own). Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported query operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Azure Synapse, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Azure Synapse data.

Configure Azure Synapse Connectivity for Excel

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

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection

2. Select "Azure Synapse" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Azure Synapse.

   Connecting to Azure Synapse

   In addition to providing authentication (see below), set the following properties to connect to a Azure Synapse database:

   • Server: The server running Azure. You can find this by logging into the Azure portal and navigating to Azure Synapse Analytics -> Select your database -> Overview -> Server name.
   • Database: The name of the database, as seen in the Azure portal on the Azure Synapse Analytics page.

   Authenticating to Azure Synapse

   Connect to Azure Synapse using the following properties:

   • User: The username provided for authentication with Azure.
   • Password: The password associated with the authenticating user.
   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Azure Synapse Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions
   

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

Access Live Azure Synapse Data in Excel

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from Excel to access live Azure Synapse 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 CData Connect AI Add-In and install the Add-in. 👁 Install the Add-In
   
4. Click Data and open the CData Connect AI Add-In.
5. In the Add-In panel, click Authorize to authenticate with your CData Connect AI instance 👁 Authorizing the Add-In
   
6. In the CData Connect AI panel in Excel, click Import 👁 CData Connect AI panel in Excel
   
7. Choose a Connection (e.g. AzureSynapse1), Table (e.g. Products), and Columns to import 👁 CData Connect AI panel in Excel
   
8. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit 👁 Choosing a Connection, Table, and Columns
   
9. Click Execute to import the data 👁 Executing the Query
   

Update Azure Synapse Data from Excel

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

1. Update any cell or cells with changes you want to push to Azure Synapse (your changes will be in red)
2. In the CData Connect AI 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 Synapse, and a notification will appear when the update is complete

Live Access to Azure Synapse Data from Cloud Applications

Now, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Azure Synapse data from your Excel workbook. You can add more data to your workbook for calculations, aggregations, collaboration, and more.

👁 Imported data (Salesforce is shown)


Try CData Connect AI and get real-time data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications.