Access Live Zendesk 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 Zendesk data directly within Excel, facilitating data analysis, collaboration, calculations, and more.This article shows how to connect to Zendesk in your Connect AI instance and access and update live Zendesk data in Excel spreadsheets.

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

Configure Zendesk Connectivity for Excel

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

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

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

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Zendesk.

   Connecting to Zendesk

   To connect, set the URL and provide authentication. The URL is your Zendesk Support URL: https://{subdomain}.zendesk.com.

   Authenticating to Zendesk

   You can authenticate using the Basic or OAuth methods.

   Using Basic Authentication

   To use Basic authentication, specify your email address and password or your email address and an API token. Set User to your email address and follow the steps below to provide the Password or ApiToken.

   • Enable password access in the Zendesk Support admin interface at Admin > Channels > API.
   • Manage API tokens in the Zendesk Support Admin interface at Admin > Channels > API. More than one token can be active at the same time. Deleting a token deactivates it permanently.

   Using OAuth Authentication

   See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for an authentication guide.

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

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

Access Live Zendesk Data in Excel

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from Excel to access live Zendesk 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. Zendesk1), Table (e.g. Tickets), 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 Zendesk Data from Excel

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

1. Update any cell or cells with changes you want to push to Zendesk (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 Zendesk, and a notification will appear when the update is complete

Live Access to Zendesk Data from Cloud Applications

Now, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Zendesk 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.