6In the Start Import at Row text box, identify the point in the delimited text file that should be the first row of the spreadsheet. In general, ASCII text files use the first several rows of the file to show report header information. For this reason, you typically want to start importing at row 10 or 20 or 5. Don’t get too tense about this business of telling the Text Import Wizard which row is the first one that should be imported. You can easily delete the extraneous rows later in Excel. You can preview the to-be-imported report shown on the bottom section of the Text Import Wizard dialog box.
9Choose the data format for the columns in your new workbook: To choose the default format for a column, click that column in the Data Preview box and then select one of the Column Data Format radio buttons. To use the Date format as the default for a column, select the Date radio button and use the Date drop-down list to choose a Date format. The Data Preview box on the second Text Import Wizard dialog box shows how the file will look after it’s imported based on the delimiters that you identified.
Experiment a bit to make sure that you import the data in a clean format.
Import data from Excel to SQL Server or Azure SQL Database. 7 minutes to read. Contributors. In this article APPLIES TO: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse There are several ways to import data from Excel files to SQL Server or to Azure SQL Database. Some methods let you import data in a single step directly from Excel files; other methods require you to export your Excel data as text before you can import it. This article summarizes the frequently used methods and provides links for more detailed information. List of methods.
You can import data in a single step, directly from Excel to SQL, by using one of the following tools:. The. The function. You can import data in two steps, by exporting your data from Excel as text, and then using one of the following tools to import the text file:. The. The statement.
The. If you want to import multiple worksheets from an Excel workbook, you typically have to run each of these tools once for each sheet. A complete description of complex tools and services like SSIS or Azure Data Factory is beyond the scope of this list. To learn more about the solution that interests you, follow the links provided for more info. Important For detailed info about connecting to Excel files, and about limitations and known issues for loading data from or to Excel files, see. SQL Server Import and Export Wizard Import data directly from Excel files by stepping through the pages of the SQL Server Import and Export Wizard. Optionally, save the settings as a SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) package that you can customize and reuse later.
How to Convert Notepad to Excel. This wikiHow teaches you how to convert a Notepad (.txt) file to a Microsoft Excel document (.xlsx) in Windows 10. In Excel 365 (only) 2016 (since version 1704) the “Text Import Wizard” was removed. It was replaced by the powerful “Get & Transform” tools. The “Get & Transform” tools also provide a function to import text and CSV files into Excel. You have the following two options: Luckily, the comfortably “Text Import Wizard” still exists.
To learn how to launch the wizard, see. For an example of using the wizard to import from Excel to SQL Server, see. SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) If you're familiar with SSIS and don't want to run the SQL Server Import and Export Wizard, create an SSIS package that uses the Excel Source and the SQL Server Destination in the data flow.
For more info about these SSIS components, see the following topics:. To start learning how to build SSIS packages, see the tutorial. OPENROWSET and linked servers. Note The ACE provider (formerly the Jet provider) that connects to Excel data sources is intended for interactive client-side use. If you use the ACE provider on the server, especially in automated processes or processes running in parallel, you may see unexpected results. Distributed queries Import data directly from Excel files by using the Transact-SQL OPENROWSET or OPENDATASOURCE function.
This usage is called a distributed query. Before you can run a distributed query, you have to enable the ad hoc distributed queries server configuration option, as shown in the following example. For more info, see. Spconfigure 'show advanced options', 1; RECONFIGURE; GO spconfigure 'Ad Hoc Distributed Queries', 1; RECONFIGURE; GO The following code sample uses OPENROWSET to import the data from the Excel Data worksheet into a new database table.
USE ImportFromExcel; GO SELECT. INTO Datadq FROM OPENROWSET('Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0', 'Excel 12.0; Database=D: Desktop Data.xlsx', Data$); GO Here's the same example with OPENDATASOURCE. USE ImportFromExcel; GO SELECT. INTO Datadq FROM OPENDATASOURCE('Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0', 'Data Source=D: Desktop Data.xlsx;Extended Properties=Excel 12.0').Data$; GO To append the imported data to an existing table instead of creating a new table, use the INSERT INTO.
Syntax instead of the SELECT. Syntax used in the preceding examples. To query the Excel data without importing it, just use the standard SELECT. For more info about distributed queries, see the following topics:. (Distributed queries are still supported in SQL Server 2016, but the documentation for this feature has not been updated.). Linked servers You can also configure a persistent connection to the Excel file as a linked server. The following example imports the data from the Data worksheet on the existing Excel linked server EXCELLINK into a new database table named Datals.
USE ImportFromExcel; GO SELECT. INTO Datals FROM EXCELLINK.Data$; GO You can create a linked server from SQL Server Management Studio, or by running the system stored procedure spaddlinkedserver, as shown in the following example. Tip For best results with data importing tools, save sheets that contain only the column headers and the rows of data.
If the saved data contains page titles, blank lines, notes, and so forth, you may see unexpected results later when you import the data. The Import Flat File Wizard Import data saved as text files by stepping through the pages of the Import Flat File Wizard. As described previously in the section, you have to export your Excel data as text before you can use the Import Flat File Wizard to import it. For more info about the Import Flat File Wizard, see.
BULK INSERT command BULK INSERT is a Transact-SQL command that you can run from SQL Server Management Studio. The following example loads the data from the Data.csv comma-delimited file into an existing database table.
As described previously in the section, you have to export your Excel data as text before you can use BULK INSERT to import it. BULK INSERT can't read Excel files directly. USE ImportFromExcel; GO BULK INSERT Databi FROM 'D: Desktop data.csv' WITH ( FIELDTERMINATOR = ',', ROWTERMINATOR = ' n' ); GO For more info, see the following topics:. BCP tool BCP is a program that you run from the command prompt. The following example loads the data from the Data.csv comma-delimited file into the existing Databcp database table.
As described previously in the section, you have to export your Excel data as text before you can use BCP to import it. BCP can't read Excel files directly. Bcp.exe ImportFromExcel.Databcp in 'D: Desktop data.csv' -T -c -t, For more info about BCP, see the following topics:. Copy Wizard (Azure Data Factory) Import data saved as text files by stepping through the pages of the Azure Data Factory Copy Wizard.
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As described previously in the section, you have to export your Excel data as text before you can use Azure Data Factory to import it. Data Factory can't read Excel files directly.
For more info about the Copy Wizard, see the following topics:. Azure Data Factory If you're familiar with Azure Data Factory and don't want to run the Copy Wizard, create a pipeline with a Copy activity that copies from the text file to SQL Server or to Azure SQL Database. As described previously in the section, you have to export your Excel data as text before you can use Azure Data Factory to import it.
Data Factory can't read Excel files directly. For more info about using these Data Factory sources and sinks, see the following topics:. To start learning how to copy data with Azure data factory, see the following topics:. See Also.