Linked Servers on MS SQL: Part 1 - Page 2

October 3, 2003

SQL to Excel

In our first example, we will link an Excel sheet to an MS SQL server. The Excel example is a one-sheet copy of the SQL Pubs table Authors.

Right-click to download the Excel Sheet

+ Open the SQL Enterprise Manager and navigate to Security/Linked Servers. Underneath, (No items) should be visible.

+ Right click the Linked Server icon and select New Linked Server.

+ Create a new linked server by entering any name in the Linked Server text box. Select "Other" as the data source, selecting the "Microsoft Jet 4" provider. The product is "Excel." The data source is the file path name. The Provider string is "Excel 8.0" for Excel versions 97, 2000, and 2002. Then click OK to finish.

Now in Enterprise Manager, under Linked Servers, the new "Excel_AUTHORS" server should appear with a table for each Excel Sheet.

To verify your connection, open SQL Query Analyzer and enter SELECT * FROM EXCEL_AUTHORS...Sheet1$. (3 dots between EXCEL_AUTHORS and Sheet1$) The author table should be returned.