Use Claude to Talk to Your Excel Online Data via CData Connect AI

Claude is a family of advanced large language models (LLMs) built by Anthropic, an AI research company founded in 2021. These models power the Claude conversational assistant and developer tools.

CData Connect AI offers a dedicated cloud-to-cloud interface for connecting to Excel Online data. The CData Connect AI Remote MCP Server enables secure communication between Claude and Excel Online. This allows you to ask questions and take actions on your Excel Online data using Claude, all without the need for data replication to a natively supported database. With its inherent optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently channels all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, directly to Excel Online. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly deliver the requested Excel Online data.

Step 1: Configure Excel Online Connectivity for Claude

Connectivity to Excel Online from Claude is made possible through CData Connect AI Remote MCP. To interact with Excel Online data from Claude, we start by creating and configuring a Excel Online connection in CData Connect AI.

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

2. Select "Excel Online" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Excel Online.

   You can connect to a workbook by providing authentication to Excel Online and then setting the following properties:

   • : Set this to the name or Id of the workbook.

     If you want to view a list of information about the available workbooks, execute a query to the Workbooks view after you authenticate.

   • : Set this to true if you are connecting to a workbook in a sandbox account. Otherwise, leave this blank to connect to a production account.

   You use the OAuth authentication standard to authenticate to Excel Online. See the Getting Started section in the help documentation for a guide. Getting Started also guides you through executing SQL to worksheets and ranges.

   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test

Step 2: Connect Claude to CData Connect AI

Follow these steps to add a CData Connect AI connector in Claude:

1. Sign in to Claude.ai or create a new account.
2. Expand the left navigation menu.
3. In the bottom-left corner, click your user name and select Settings from the menu. The Settings screen appears.
4. In the Settings screen, click Connectors.
5. Click the button to Browse Connectors.
6. Search for "CData Connect AI" and click the listing. 👁 Adding CData Connect AI
   
7. Click "Connect" and sign into your Connect AI account. 👁 Connecting to your Connect AI account
   
8. After connecting, Claude opens a new chat.

Step 3: Explore Live Excel Online Data with Claude

1. You can now start exploring your data with natural language prompts. Claude outlines the steps it uses to retrieve data from the source in CData Connect AI. Refer to CData's prompt library for prompt ideas.
👁 Exploring data with Claude

NOTE: Claude's setup process is subject to change. Refer to Claude's documentation for the latest setup information.

Get CData Connect AI

To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, try CData Connect AI today!