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PlaidXL

The PlaidCloud Office Add-in (PlaidXL) allows for focused analysis interactions directly in Microsoft Excel. PlaidXL enables direct interaction with Workspaces, Projects, Workflows, Tables, Views, and Variables in PlaidCloud. Its ability to provide a set of PlaidCloud functions aids in managing data analysis processes directly from Microsoft Excel.

The PlaidCloud Office Add-in (PlaidXL) allows for focused analysis interactions directly in Microsoft Excel. PlaidXL enables direct interaction with Workspaces, Projects, Workflows, Tables, Views, and Variables in PlaidCloud. Its ability to provide a set of PlaidCloud functions aids in managing data analysis processes directly from Microsoft Excel, which makes analysis easier on you.

1 - Installation

Install the PlaidCloud Excel Add-in

For Windows

  1. From the Insert > Add-ins menu in Microsoft Excel, type in PlaidCloud in the add-in search box
  2. Select the PlaidCloud Office Add-in and install it

For Mac

  1. From the Insert > Store menu in Microsoft Excel for Mac, type in PlaidCloud in the add-in search box
  2. Select the PlaidCloud Office Add-in and install it

2 - Connecting

Connect Excel with the PlaidCloud Excel Add-in to your PlaidCloud project

For PlaidCloud Logins

Connecting to PlaidCloud is much like your login to PlaidCloud directly. You will be asked for your email, password, and any multi-factor authentication code enabled. Fill this out as normal, and begin using PlaidXL!

For Single Sign-on Logins

If you normally use single sign-on to access PlaidCloud, the login process will be transparent for you as long as you are currently logged into your organization. If you are not logged in, you will be prompted to sign in.

3 - Working with Data

Retrieve and save data using the PlaidCloud Excel Add-in after connecting to a PlaidCloud project

Retrieve Data

To retrieve data from PlaidCloud, select your desired project from the dropdown menu. Once a project is selected, a list of tables in that project will appear. Click on a table to select it, and click the Retrieve Table button to import the selected table into Excel. The table will be placed in a new worksheet, named after the table. For your convenience, the following will also happen when a table is retrieved:

  • Column headers will be frozen

  • Auto-filters will be enabled

  • An offset-based named range will be generated to encompass the data

    • This range’s name will be the same as the table’s name, prefixed with an underscore and with all spaces replaced by underscores
    • For example, the range for a table named “Sample data” would be “_Sample_data”

Save Data

If you make changes data in the spreadsheet and want to push these changes to the PlaidCloud table, simply press the Save Table (OVERWRITE!) button.

Since you can open multiple PlaidCloud tables in PlaidXL, bulk operations are in place for your convenience. The pull/push all active tables buttons will retrieve the latest versions of all tables active in excel, or upload all active tables back to PlaidCloud, respectively.

In addition, pulling all tables will also refresh any pivot tables that use data from a refreshed table.