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Write data back to Databricks using the Databricks Excel Add-in

Preview

This feature is in Public Preview.

The Databricks Excel Add-in lets you write data from Microsoft Excel back to a Unity Catalog table. You can create a new table or overwrite an existing table in Databricks without leaving Excel.

This page describes how to write data back to Databricks using the Databricks Excel Add-in.

Prerequisites​

Before you write data back to Databricks from Excel:

  • The Databricks Excel Add-in is installed and configured.

  • You have access to a running SQL warehouse.

  • You have the necessary privileges on the target catalog and schema in Unity Catalog. There is no separate setting in the Excel Add-in to enable or disable write-back.

    • To create a new table, you must have the following privileges:
      • USE CATALOG on the catalog
      • USE SCHEMA on the schema
      • CREATE TABLE on the schema
    • To overwrite an existing table, you must have the following privileges:
      • USE CATALOG on the catalog
      • USE SCHEMA on the schema
      • SELECT on the table
      • MODIFY on the table

    For more information, see Unity Catalog privileges reference.

Select a SQL warehouse​

Select which SQL warehouse to use:

  1. In the upper-right of the Databricks Add-in pane in Excel, click the drop-down menu.
  2. Select which SQL warehouse you want to use.

Write data back to Databricks​

You can write an Excel range back to Databricks in one of two ways:

  • Create a new table: Create a new Unity Catalog table from the selected Excel range.
  • Overwrite an existing table: Replace the contents of an existing Unity Catalog table with the selected Excel range.

To create a new Unity Catalog table or overwrite an existing Unity Catalog table from Excel:

  1. In the Databricks Excel Add-in pane, click the Write back tab.
  2. Select Create table or Overwrite table.
  3. Search for and select the destination Catalog and Schema.
  4. Specify the target table:
    • To create a new table, enter a name.
    • To overwrite an existing table, select the table you want to overwrite.
  5. By default, the first row of the selected range is used as the column headers. You can change this under Advanced options.
  6. Enter the Excel cell range that contains the data you want to write, then click Use selection.
  7. (Optional) Edit column names. To directly edit a column name, click the column name field in the table preview.
  8. (Optional) Edit column types. In the table preview, click Letters icon. letter icon and select the data type you want.
  9. Click Write to table.
note

To stop a write-back that is in progress, click Cancel in the Excel Add-in pane.

Limitations​

  • Write-back supports table-level writes only. Row-level updates, appends, and merges are not supported.
  • Write-back does not support creating views or materialized views.
  • The Excel Add-in only supports SQL warehouses. All-purpose compute is not supported.

Additional resources​

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