Refresh an external data connection in Excel (2024)

To keep imported external data up-to-date, you can refresh it to see recent updates and deletes.Excel provides many options for refreshing data, including when you open the workbook and at timed intervals.

Note:To stop a refresh, press Esc.To refresh a worksheet, press Ctrl + F5.To refresh a workbook, press Ctrl+ Alt+ F5.

Newer versionsWebOffice 2016

Learn about refreshing data in the Excel app

The following table summarizes the refresh actions, shortcut keys, and commands.

To	Press	Or
Refresh selected data in the worksheet	Alt + F5	Select Data > The drop-down arrow next to Refresh All > Refresh
Refresh all data in the workbook	Ctrl + Alt + F5	Select Data > Refresh All
Check refresh status		Double-click the message, "Retrieving Data" on the status bar.
Stop a refresh	Esc
Stop a background refresh		Double-click the message on the status bar. And then select Stop Refresh in the External Data Refresh Statusdialog box.

Data in aworkbook may be stored directly in the workbook, or it may be stored in an external data source, such as a text file, a database, or the cloud. The first time you import external data, Excel creates connection information, sometimes saved to an Office Data Connection (ODC) file, which describes how to locate, log in, query, and access the external data source.

When you are connected to an external data source, you can perform a refresh operation to retrieve the updated data. Each time that you refresh data, you see the most recent version of the data, including any changes that were made to the data since it was last refreshed.

Learn more about refreshing data

This explains the basic process of what happens when you refresh data connected to an external data source:

Someone starts refreshing the workbook's connections to get up-to-date data.
Connections are made to external data sources that are used in the workbook.

Note:There are a variety of data sources you can access, such as OLAP, SQL Server, OLEDB providers, and ODBC drivers.
The data in the workbook is updated.

Learn about security concerns

When you are connected to an external data source and you attempt to refresh the data, it's important to be aware of potential security issues, and to know what you can do about any security issues.

Trust Connections- External data may be currently disabled on your computer. To refresh the data when you open a workbook, you must enable the data connections by using the Trust Center bar, or you must place the workbook in a trusted location. For more information, see these articles:

Add, remove, or modify a trusted location for your files
Trusted documents
Add, remove, or view a trusted publisher
View my options and settings in the Trust Center.

ODC file -A data connection file (.odc) often contains one or more queries that are used to refresh external data. By replacing this file, a user who has malicious intent can design a query to access confidential information and distribute it to other users or perform other harmful actions. Therefore, it's important to ensure that the connection file was authored by a reliable individual, and the connection file is secure and comes from a trusted Data Connection Library (DCL).

Credentials- Accessing an external data source usually requires credentials (such as a user name and a password) that are used to authenticate the user. Make sure that these credentials are provided to you in a safe and secure manner, and that you do not inadvertently reveal these credentials to others.If your external data source requires a password to gain access to the data, you can require that the password is entered each time the external data range is refreshed.

Sharing -Are you sharing this workbook with other people who might want to refresh data? Help your colleagues avoid data refresh errors by reminding them to request permissions on the data sources providing the data.

For more information, see Manage data source settings and permissions.

You can refresh an external data range automatically when you open the workbook. You can also save the workbook without saving the external data to shrink the size of the file.

Select a cell in the external data range.
Select Data > Queries & Connections > Connections tab, right click a query in the list, and then select Properties.
In the Connection Properties dialog box, on the Usage tab, under Refresh control, select the Refresh data when opening the file check box.
If you want to save the workbook with the query definition but without the external data, select the Remove data from the external data range before saving the workbook check box.

Select a cell in the external data range.
Select Data > Queries & Connections > Connections tab, right click a query in the list, and then select Properties.
Click the Usage tab.
Select the Refresh every check box, and then enter the number of minutes between each refresh operation.

If your workbook is connected to a large data source, refreshing it might take a little longer than you expect.Consider running a background refresh. This returns control of Excel to you instead of making you wait several minutes or more for the refresh to finish.

Note:You can't run an OLAP query in the background and you can't run a query for any connection type that retrieves data for the Data Model.

Select a cell in the external data range.
Select Data > Queries & Connections > Connections tab, right click a query in the list, and then select Properties.
Select the Usage tab.
Select the Enable background refresh check box to run the query in the background. Clear this check box to run the query while you wait.

Tip While you record a macro that includes a query, Excel doesn't run the query in the background. To change the recorded macro so that the query runs in the background, edit the macro in the Visual Basic Editor. Change the refresh method for the QueryTable object from BackgroundQuery := False to BackgroundQuery := True.

Stored passwords aren't encrypted, so they're not recommended. If your data source needs a password to connect to it, you can require that users enter the password before they can refresh the external data range. The following procedure doesn't apply to data retrieved from a text file (.txt) or a Web query (.iqy).

Tip:Use strong passwords that combine uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Weak passwords don't mix these elements. For example, Strong password: Y6dh!et5. Weak password: House27. Passwords should be 8 or more characters in length. A pass phrase that uses 14 or more characters is better.

It's critical that you remember your password. If you forget your password, Microsoft cannot retrieve it. Store the passwords that you write down in a secure place away from the information that they help protect.

Select a cell in the external data range.
Select Data > Queries & Connections > Connections tab, right click a query in the list, and then select Properties.
Select the Definition tab, and then clear the Save password check box.

Note:Excel prompts you for the password only the first time that the external data range is refreshed in each Excel session. The next time you start Excel, you'll be prompted for the password again if you open the workbook that contains the query and then attempt a refresh operation.

Detailed help for refreshing data

When you shape your data in Power Query, you typically load the changes to a worksheet or Data Model. It's important to understand the difference when you are refreshing data and how you refresh it.

Note:When you refresh, new columns added since the last refresh operation are added to Power Query. To see these new columns, re-examine the Source step in the query. For more information, see Create Power Query formulas.

Most queries are based on external data resources of one kind or another. However, there is a key difference between Excel and Power Query. Power Query caches the external data locally to help improve performance. Furthermore, Power Querydoesn’t automatically refresh the local cache to help prevent incurring costs for data sources in Azure.

Important:If you receive a message in the yellow message bar at the top of your window, that states “This preview may be up to n days old.”, it usually means the local cache is out-of-date. You should selectRefresh to bring it up-to-date.

Refresh a query in the Power Query Editor

When you refresh a query from the Power Query Editor, you are not only bringing in updated data from the external data source, you are also updating the local cache. But this refresh operation does not updatethe query in the worksheet or Data Model.

In Power Query Editor, select Home
Select Refresh Preview > Refresh Preview (the current query in Preview Data)or Refresh All (all opened queries from the Queries pane.)
At the bottom of the Power Query Editor on the right, a message displays, “Preview downloaded at <hh:mm> AM/PM”.This message displays upon first importing, and after each subsequent refresh operation in the Power Query Editor.

Refresh a query in a worksheet

In Excel, select a cell in a query in a worksheet.
Select the Query tab in the ribbon, and then select Refresh >Refresh.
The worksheet and the queryarerefreshed from the external data source and the Power Query cache.

Notes:

When you refresh a query that was imported from an Excel table or named range, pay attention to your current worksheet. If you want to change the data in the worksheet that contains the Excel table, make sure you have selected the correct worksheet and not the worksheet that contains the loaded query.
This is especially important if you are changing the column headers in the Excel Table. They often look similar and it’s easy to confuse the two. It’s a good idea to rename the worksheets to reflect the difference. For example, you could rename them to “TableData” and “QueryTable” to emphasize the distinction.

At any time, you can selectRefresh to update the data for the PivotTables in your workbook. You can refresh the data for PivotTables connected to external data, such as a database (SQL Server, Oracle, Access, or other), Analysis Services cube, data feed, as well as data from a source table in the same or a different workbook. PivotTables can be refreshed manually or automatically when you open the workbook.

Note:For more information, seeCreate a PivotTable to analyze worksheet dataandChange the source data for a PivotTable.

Control how or when the connection is refreshed

Click any cell that contains your connected data.
On the Data tab, in the Connections group, click the arrow next to Refresh All, and click Connection Properties.
On the Usage tab, set any options you want to change.

For very large data sets, consider checking the Enable background refresh option. This returns control of Excel to you as soon as the refresh begins, instead of making you wait for the refresh to finish.

Cancel or check the status of a refresh

If your workbook is connected to a large data source, refreshing it might take a little longer than you expect. To check on the refresh, or to cancel it, do one of the following:

Check the status of a queryA message appears on the Excel status bar to indicate that the query is running. Double-click the message to check the status of the query.
Stop a background refreshTo stop a query that's running in the background, double-click the query status message on the status bar to display the External Data Refresh Status dialog box, and then click Stop Refresh.
Stop a queryTo stop a query from running when background refresh is turned off, press the Esc key.

When you use the Power Pivot add-in to refresh previously imported data, you can see whether refresh succeeds, fails, or is cancelled.

In Power Pivot, click Home > Get External Data > Refresh or Refresh All to re-import the current table or all of the tables in the data model.

Status of the refresh is indicated for each connection used in the data model. There are three possible outcomes.

“Success” reports on the number of rows imported into each table.

“Error” can occur if the database is offline, you no longer have permissions, or a table or column is deleted or renamed in the source. Verify the database is available, perhaps by creating a new connection in a different workbook.

“Cancelled” means that Excel did not issue the refresh request, probably because refresh is disabled on the connection.

Tip:Are you sharing this workbook with other people who might want to refresh data? Help your colleagues avoid data refresh errors by reminding them to request permissions on the data sources providing the data.

Table properties show queries used in data refresh

Data refresh is simply rerunning the same query that was used to get the data in the first place. You can view, and sometimes modify, the query by viewing table properties in the Power Pivot window.

To view the query used during data refresh, click Power Pivot > Manage to open the Power Pivot window.
Click Design > Table Properties.
Switch to Query Editor to view the underlying query.

Queries are not visible for every type of data source. For example, queries are not shown for data feed imports.

Connection properties that cancel data refresh

To view connection properties, in Excel, click Data > Connections to view a list of all connections used in the workbook.
Select a connection and click Properties.
In Usage, under Refresh control, if the checkbox is cleared for Refresh this connection on Refresh All, you will get a cancellation when you try Refresh All in the Power Pivot window.

Refresh data on SharePoint Server 2013 or later

On SharePoint Server, you can schedule unattended data refresh on the server, but doing so requires that Power Pivot for SharePoint 2013 is installed and configured in your SharePoint environment. Check with your SharePoint administrator to find out if scheduled data refresh is available.

Note:The Power Query Editor is part of Get & Transform. To learn more, see .

With the Power Query Editor, you can refresh a query to import the latest data into a table without having to recreate the query.

To refresh a query:

Click Get & Transform > Show Queries.
In the Workbook Queries pane, select the query you want to refresh.
In the Power Query Editor ribbon, click Home > Query > Refresh preview.

When the data you use for your map changes, you can refresh it manually in 3D Maps. The changes will then be reflected on your map. Here’s how:

In 3D Maps, click Home > Refresh Data.

Add data to Power Map

To add new data to your 3D MapsPower Map:

In 3D Maps, go to the map you want to add data to.
Leaving the 3D Maps window open, click in Excel and select the worksheet data you want to add.
On the Excel ribbon, click Insert > Map arrow > Add Selected Data to Power Map.

Your 3D Maps will automatically update to show the additional data.

Data in a Microsoft Office Excel workbook that has been displayed in Excel Services can come from two different locations. The data may be stored directly in the workbook, or it may be stored in an external data source, such as in a database or in an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube.

If the data comes from an external data source, the workbook author or administrator has defined the connection information, often in an Office data connection (.odc) file, which describes how to locate, log in, query, and access the external data source.

Learn about refreshing data

The following illustration explains the basic process of what happens when you refresh data connected to an external data source.

A refresh operation gets up-to-date data.
A connection, often saved to a connection file, defines all the information needed to access and retrieve data from an external data source.
There are a variety of data sources you can access, such as OLAP, SQL Server, OLEDB providers, and ODBC drivers.
Up-to-date data is added to the current workbook.

Learn about security concerns

When you are connected to an external data source and you attempt to refresh the data, it's important to be aware of potential security issues, and to know what you can do about any security issues.

A data connection file often contains one or more queries that are used to refresh external data. By replacing this file, a user who has malicious intent can design a query to access confidential information and distribute it to other users or perform other harmful actions. Therefore, it's important to ensure that the connection file was authored by a reliable individual, and the connection file is secure and comes from a trusted Data Connection Library (DCL).

For more information on how an administrator can author connection files, create trusted locations, and secure connection files, see Microsoft Office Excel Help and Office SharePoint Server Central Administration Help.

Note:Accessing an external data source usually requires credentials (such as a user name and a password) that are used to authenticate the user. Make sure that these credentials are provided to you in a safe and secure manner, and that you do not inadvertently reveal these credentials to others.

Control how data is refreshed

You can control how to refresh data from an external data source by doing one or more of the following:

Refresh on openIn Excel, a workbook author can create a workbook that automatically refreshes external data when the workbook is opened by selecting the Refresh data when opening the file check box in the Connection Properties dialog box. (On the Data tab, in the Connections group, click Connections, select the connection, click Properties, click the Usage tab, and then click Refresh data when opening the file.) In this case, Excel Services always refreshes the data before it displays a workbook and creates a new session. If the workbook author clears the Refresh data when opening the file check box, the data that is cached with the workbook is displayed, which means that when a user manually refreshes the data, the user sees refreshed, up-to-date data during the current session, but the data is not saved to the workbook. If you want to ensure that up-to-date data is always displayed when you display the workbook in Excel Services, select the Refresh data when opening the file check box by using Office Excel.

If you are using an Office Data Connection file (.odc), make sure you also set the Always use connection file check box in the Connection Properties dialog box (On the Data tab, in the Connections group, click Connections, select the connection, click Properties, click the Definition tab, and then click Always use connection file).

The trusted file location site settings, Short Session Timeout and External Data Cache Lifetime, can also have an impact on refresh operations. For more information, see your administrator or the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Central Administration Help system.
Manual refresh

Note:You can manually refresh only a PivotTable report.
1. Select a cell in a PivotTable report.
2. On the Excel Web Access toolbar, under the Update menu, click Refresh Selected Connection.
  Notes:
  - Any interactive operation that causes a requery of an OLAP data source initiates a manual refresh operation.
  - If this Refresh command is not visible, then the Web Part author has cleared the Refresh Selected Connection, Refresh All Connections property. For more information, see Excel Web Access Web Part custom properties.
Refresh all connectionsOn the Excel Web Access toolbar, under the Update menu, click Refresh All Connections.
Periodic refreshBy using Excel, the workbook author can specify that data automatically refreshes at a specified interval after the workbook is opened for each connection in the workbook. For example, an inventory database may be updated every hour, and so the workbook author has defined the workbook to automatically refresh every 60 minutes.

A Web Part author can select or clear the Allow Excel Web Access Periodic Data Refresh property to enable or disable this periodic refresh operation, if the property has been defined by the workbook author. When the time interval elapses, by default, the following refresh alert prompt is displayed at the bottom of the Excel Web Access Web Part:

Refresh data for <List of Connections>? (Now) (Always) (Don't ask me again)

An Excel Web Access Web Part author can also set the Display Periodic Data Refresh Prompt property to control the behavior of the message that is displayed when Excel Services performs a periodic data refresh during a session:
- Always means that the message is displayed with a prompt at each interval.
- Optionally means that a user can choose to continue periodic refresh without displaying a message.
- Never means that Excel Web Access performs a periodic refresh without displaying a message or prompt.
For more information, see Excel Web Access Web Part custom properties.
Cancel a refreshBecause a refresh operation may take longer than you expect, you can cancel it. While the refresh operation occurs, Excel Services displays a message with a prompt. Click Cancel to interrupt the operation, so that you can complete the refresh operation at a more convenient time. Data returned by queries before you cancelled the refresh operation will display.