Access Live Cosmos DB Data in Excel for the Web (Excel 365/Online) through Connect Spreadsheets

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

Configure Cosmos DB Connectivity for Excel

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

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

   To obtain the connection string needed to connect to a Cosmos DB account using the SQL API, log in to the Azure Portal, select Azure Cosmos DB, and select your account. In the Settings section, click Connection String and set the following values:

   • AccountEndpoint: The Cosmos DB account URL from the Keys blade of the Cosmos DB account
   • AccountKey: In the Azure portal, navigate to the Cosmos DB service and select your Azure Cosmos DB account. From the resource menu, go to the Keys page. Find the PRIMARY KEY value and set AccountKey to this value.
   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Create & Test

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Cosmos DB data from Excel for the web.

Access Live Cosmos DB Data in Excel for the web

The steps below outline connecting to Connect Spreadsheets from Excel to access live Cosmos DB data.

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. 👁 Install the Add-In
   
4. Back in Excel, open the Data ribbon select and click the CData Connect Spreadsheets "Get Data" button. 👁 Open Add in panel
   
5. In the Add-In panel, click "Log in" to sign into and 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. CosmosDB1), Table (e.g. Customers), 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 👁 Executing the Query
   

Update Cosmos DB Data from Excel

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

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

A notification will appear when the update is complete.

Live Access to Cosmos DB Data from Spreadsheets

New, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Cosmos DB 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 your spreadsheet apps.