You can get data from a web page and import it into Excel. It’s easy. You might want to analyze the data in Excel. Perhaps you want to create a chart. Perhaps you are just looking for sample data to practice with.

One way to get data from the web is to use OData. In computing, Open Data Protocol (OData) is an open protocol that allows the creation and consumption of queryable and interoperable REST APIs in a simple and standard way. Microsoft initiated OData in 2007. In Excel, we can connect to a web page that has the Northwind database. First we need to get the website address of the data we want. This is a good way to get hold of some sample data to practice with.

The URL for the Northwind database is https://services.odata.org/V3/Northwind/Northwind.svc/. Go to that page and you will see some XML code. Now copy the link to that web page. I get https://services.odata.org/V3/Northwind/Northwind.svc/. In Excel, you can import part or all of the database. Go to the Data tab in Excel. I’m using Excel 365. Go to Get Data, From Other Sources, From OData Feed. Now paste in the link https://services.odata.org/V3/Northwind/Northwind.svc/. Click the OK button in the dialog box. A dialog box called Navigator opens for you to select the tables you want from the list on the left side. It’s probably best to click the Transform data button at the bottom so that you will open the Power Query Editor.

Also, you can import data from Google Sheets into Excel. It’s a link, so it will be updated as the Google sheet changes, but it may take several minutes to synch. Please be patient.

Learning with YouTube

Do you want to import a webpage’s table into Excel? One way is to simply copy and paste the data and hope that Excel recognized the columns and data correctly. The second way is to use link the page to Excel. If any data changes we just need to refresh Excel to import the updated data. Cool. Here’s a video on that by Leila Gharani called Easily Import Data from Web to Excel (2 Practical Examples).