Running SQL in Excel: A Rookie’s Guide

So, you wanna run SQL in Excel, huh? No worries! It’s not as scary as it sounds! Here’s a super simple way to get you started.

What You Need

• Excel (of course!)
• Access to some data (like a table or a database).

Step 1: Get your data

First, you’ll need to make sure you have some data in Excel. If you don’t, you can always create a simple table or import some data from somewhere.

Step 2: Enable the Developer Tab

You need to make sure the Developer tab is showing because we’ll need that little helper later. Here’s how:

1. Go to File > Options.
2. Click on Customize Ribbon.
3. Check the box next to Developer and hit OK.

Step 3: Get a connection

Now, we need to connect to your data source. Click on the Data tab, then choose Get Data > From Other Sources > Blank Query.

Step 4: Write your SQL query

Here’s where the SQL magic happens! In the editor, you can use Sql.Database to point to your database and write your SQL query. It looks something like this:

let
    Source = Sql.Database("YourServerName", "YourDatabaseName"),
    YourQuery = Source{[Schema="dbo", Item="YourTable"]}[Data]
in
    YourQuery
    

Step 5: Load it into excel

After you’re done writing your query (and maybe double-checking for typos!), click Close & Load. Bam! Your data will pop up in a new sheet!

Step 6: Play around!

Dive into the data, make some charts, do whatever! Just remember, SQL is powerful, but with great power comes … you know the rest! Always double-check your queries!

Some Tips

• Don’t be afraid to Google stuff! There are tons of SQL tutorials out there.
• Practice makes perfect! Try writing different SQL commands.

And that’s pretty much it! Happy querying!