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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/dynamicscrm-cloud-excel-365.rst

⇱ Access Live Dynamics CRM Data in Excel 365 Online (Excel for the web)

Access Live Dynamics CRM Data in Excel 365 Online (Excel for the web)

👁 Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Connect to Dynamics CRM data from Excel 365 Online (Excel for the web) with CData Connect AI.

Microsoft Excel for the web represents a cloud-native iteration of Microsoft Excel. When integrated with CData Connect AI, you gain immediate access to Dynamics CRM data directly from within Excel. This access facilitates data analysis, collaborative work, calculations, and more. This article provides a step-by-step guide on connecting to Dynamics CRM within your Connect AI instance and accessing live Dynamics CRM data in Excel for the web spreadsheets, whether for viewing or updating purposes.

CData Connect AI provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Dynamics CRM, allowing you to easily access live Dynamics CRM 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 Dynamics CRM, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Dynamics CRM data.

About Dynamics CRM Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live Microsoft Dynamics CRM data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Read and write data in the Dynamics CRM 2011+ Services and Dynamics CRM Online.
  • Extend the native features of Dynamics CRM with customizable caching and intelligent query aggregation and separation.
  • Authenticate securely with Dynamics CRM in a variety of ways, including Azure Active Directory, Azure Managed Service Identity credentials, and Azure Service Principal using either a client secret or a certificate.

CData customers use our Dynamics CRM connectivity solutions for a variety of reasons, whether they're looking to replicate their data into a data warehouse (alongside other data sources) or analyze live Dynamics CRMa data from their preferred data tools inside the Microsoft ecosystem (Power BI, Excel, etc.) or with external tools (Tableau, Looker, etc.).


Getting Started


This setup requires a CData Connect AI instance and the CData Connect AI Add-In for Excel. To get started, sign up a free trial of Connect AI and install the free Connect AI Excel Add-In.


Configure Dynamics CRM Connectivity for Excel

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

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

    The connection string options meet the authentication and connection requirements of different Dynamics CRM instances. To connect to your instance, set the User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, to valid Dynamics CRM user credentials and set the Url to a valid Dynamics CRM server organization root. Additionally, set the CRMVersion property to 'CRM2011+' or 'CRMOnline'. IFD configurations are supported as well; set InternetFacingDeployment to true.

    Additionally, you can provide the security token service (STS) or AD FS endpoint in the STSURL property. This value can be retrieved with the GetSTSUrl stored procedure. Office 365 users can connect to the default STS URL by simply setting CRMVersion.

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

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

Access Live Dynamics CRM Data in Excel for the web

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from Excel to access live Dynamics CRM 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 CData Connect Spreadsheets Add-In 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 Login or Sign-up to authenticate with your CData Connect AI instance 👁 Authorizing the Add-In
  6. In the CData Connect Spreadsheets panel in Excel, click Import 👁 CData Connect AI panel in Excel
  7. Choose a Connection (e.g. DynamicsCRM1), Table (e.g. Account), 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 Dynamics CRM Data from Excel

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

  1. Update any cell or cells with changes you want to push to Dynamics CRM (your changes will be in red)
  2. In the CData 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 Dynamics CRM 👁 Updating data (Salesforce is shown).

A notification will appear when the update is complete

Live Access to Dynamics CRM Data from Cloud Applications

New, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Dynamics CRM 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.