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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/snowflake-spreadsheets-excel-desktop.rst

⇱ Access Live Snowflake Data in Excel (Desktop) through Connect Spreadsheets

Access Live Snowflake Data in Excel (Desktop) through Connect Spreadsheets

👁 Cameron Leblanc
Cameron Leblanc
Senior Technology Evangelist
Use Connect Spreadsheets by CData to gain access to live Snowflake data from your Excel spreadsheets.

Looking for Connect AI instructions?

Your Connect AI account includes Connect Spreadsheets, so you can use the instructions below. You can expect minor differences when referencing the Connect Spreadsheet platform, but the principles still apply!


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

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


About Snowflake Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live Snowflake data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Reads and write Snowflake data quickly and efficiently.
  • Dynamically obtain metadata for the specified Warehouse, Database, and Schema.
  • Authenticate in a variety of ways, including OAuth, OKTA, Azure AD, Azure Managed Service Identity, PingFederate, private key, and more.

Many CData users use CData solutions to access Snowflake from their preferred tools and applications, and replicate data from their disparate systems into Snowflake for comprehensive warehousing and analytics.

For more information on integrating Snowflake with CData solutions, refer to our blog: https://www.cdata.com/blog/snowflake-integrations.


Getting Started


Configure Snowflake Connectivity for Excel

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

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

    To connect to Snowflake:

    1. Set User and Password to your Snowflake credentials and set the AuthScheme property to PASSWORD or OKTA.
    2. Set URL to the URL of the Snowflake instance (i.e.: https://myaccount.snowflakecomputing.com).
    3. Set Warehouse to the Snowflake warehouse.
    4. (Optional) Set Account to your Snowflake account if your URL does not conform to the format above.
    5. (Optional) Set Database and Schema to restrict the tables and views exposed.
    6. (Optional) If MFA is enabled on your Snowflake account (via Duo Security), set MFACode to the passcode generated by your Duo authenticator app.

    See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for more information.

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

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

Access Live Snowflake Data in Excel

The steps below outline connecting to Connect Spreadsheets from Excel to access live Snowflake 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. Snowflake1), Table (e.g. Products), 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 Snowflake Data from Excel

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

  1. Update any cell or cells with changes you want to push to Snowflake (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 Snowflake

A notification will appear when the update is complete

👁 Update complete (Salesforce is shown).

Live Access to Snowflake Data from Spreadsheet Apps

New, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Snowflake 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 Connect Spreadsheets and get real-time data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from Microsoft Excel.

Ready to get started?

Learn more about Connect Spreadsheets or sign up for free trial access:

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