Connecting with Oracle: Accessing Oracle via Access and Excel - Page 3

May 26, 2004

Configuring Excel to Connect to Oracle

Open a new book or sheet in Excel. Follow the Data>Import External Data>Import Data path to select a data source. Highlight +Connect to New Data Source and click Open (or double-click it) to bring up the Data Connection Wizard.

Select Oracle from the list and click Next.

Enter the information for your Oracle database connection and click Next.

Scroll down to Scott's tables and select a single table (EMP). Click Next.

Enter a description for the table and click Finish.

Import the data into a range of cells.

The sheet now reflects the contents of Scott's EMP table.

Having a hard time remembering how to sort in Oracle (or don't know how in the first place)? If your user is even marginally adept at using Excel, sorting (and summing, formatting, etc.) is no problem.

In closing

As you can see, the steps behind setting up a PC for ODBC are very simple to perform. Likewise, the steps to access an Oracle database via Access or Excel are also fairly straightforward. Not all of the screenshots and steps were shown, but enough of them were, so if you were faced with this task tomorrow, you should feel confident that you would be able to make the connection with Oracle.

» See All Articles by Columnist Steve Callan