How to Connect Microsoft Excel to Salesforce.com

Customers occasionally ask: "Can I connect my Excel Spreadsheet to Salesforce.com?" and "Is it true that there is a free Excel Connector for the Force.com platform?"

Yes, you can connect Microsoft Excel to the Force.com Platform with the free, Open Source Microsoft Excel Add-in written in VB by Ron Hess.

Here's how to get started:

Visit the Force.com Open Source Projects site

Read the Excel Connector Documentation

Download the Free Microsoft Excel Connector for Salesforce.com

Follow the Installation guide to install and configure the Excel Connector.

Once you've got the Add-In installed, the best way to begin is to launch Sforce Table Query Wizard. This wizard will guide you through the steps required to create a table within Microsoft Excel which represents a table in the sforce database. This wizard is the first menu item in the Sforce connector menu.

The Sforce Table Query Wizard contains three steps:

1. Select the location for the table.
2. Select the table name.
3. Select fields and operators to construct a simple query.

Once you have constructed a simple query and added it to the worksheet you may run this query using the button provided by the wizard, or using the connector menu item titled Query Table Data.

Have fun,
Surfwriter, Inc.