Connection strings for Excel

Microsoft Jet OLE DB 4.0

Type OLE DB Provider
 Usage Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0
 Manufacturer Microsoft
More info and provider downloads

Set example values

Standard

    
Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\MyExcel.xls;
Extended Properties="Excel 8.0;HDR=Yes;IMEX=1";

How to Use JET in 64 bit environments »

 
 

Standard alternative

Try this one if the one above is not working. Some reports that Excel 2003 need the exta OLEDB; section in the beginning of the string.

    
OLEDB;Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\MyExcel.xls;
Extended Properties="Excel 8.0;HDR=Yes;IMEX=1";

Important note!
The quota " in the string needs to be escaped using your language specific escape syntax.
c#, c++   \"
VB6, VBScript   ""
xml (web.config etc)   "
or maybe use a single quota '.

"HDR=Yes;" indicates that the first row contains columnnames, not data. "HDR=No;" indicates the opposite.

"IMEX=1;" tells the driver to always read "intermixed" (numbers, dates, strings etc) data columns as text. Note that this option might affect excel sheet write access negative.

SQL syntax "SELECT [Column Name One], [Column Name Two] FROM [Sheet One$]". I.e. excel worksheet name followed by a "$" and wrapped in "[" "]" brackets.

Check out the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Jet\4.0\Engines\Excel] located registry REG_DWORD "TypeGuessRows". That's the key to not letting Excel use only the first 8 rows to guess the columns data type. Set this value to 0 to scan all rows. This might hurt performance. Please also note that adding the IMEX=1 option might cause the IMEX feature to set in after just 8 rows. Use IMEX=0 instead to be sure to force the registry TypeGuessRows=0 (scan all rows) to work.

If the Excel workbook is protected by a password, you cannot open it for data access, even by supplying the correct password with your connection string. If you try, you receive the following error message: "Could not decrypt file."

A workaround for the "could not decrypt file" problem

 
 

ACE OLEDB 12.0

Type OLE DB Provider
 Usage Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0
 Manufacturer Microsoft
More info and provider downloads

Set example values

Excel 97-2003 Xls files with ACE OLEDB 12.0

You can use this connection string to use the Office 2007 OLEDB driver (ACE 12.0) to connect to older 97-2003 Excel workbooks.

    
Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=c:\myFolder\myOldExcelFile.xls;
Extended Properties="Excel 8.0;HDR=YES";

"HDR=Yes;" indicates that the first row contains columnnames, not data. "HDR=No;" indicates the opposite.

 
 

.NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB

Type .NET Framework Wrapper Class Library
 Usage System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection
 Manufacturer Microsoft
More info and wrapper class library downloads

Set example values

Use an OLE DB provider from .NET

    
Provider=any oledb provider's name;OledbKey1=someValue;OledbKey2=someValue;

See the respective OLEDB provider's connection strings options. The .net OleDbConnection will just pass on the connection string to the specified OLEDB provider. Read more here.

 
 

Microsoft Excel ODBC Driver

Type ODBC Driver
 Usage Driver={Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls)}
 Manufacturer Microsoft
More info and driver downloads

Set example values

Standard

    
Driver={Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls)};DriverId=790;Dbq=C:\MyExcel.xls;
DefaultDir=c:\mypath;

SQL syntax "SELECT [Column Name One], [Column Name Two] FROM [Sheet One$]". I.e. excel worksheet name followed by a "$" and wrapped in "[" "]" brackets.

 
 

Specify ReadOnly

[Microsoft][ODBC Excel Driver] Operation must use an updateable query. Use this connection string to avoid the error.

    
Driver={Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls)};Dbq=C:\MyExcel.xls;ReadOnly=0;

ReadOnly = 0 specifies the connection to be updateable.

 
 

Microsoft Excel 2007 ODBC Driver

Type ODBC Driver
 Usage Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls, *.xlsx, *.xlsm, *.xlsb)
 Manufacturer Microsoft
More info and driver downloads

Set example values

Standard

    
Driver={Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls, *.xlsx, *.xlsm, *.xlsb)};DBQ=C:\MyExcel.xls;
 
 

.NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC

Type .NET Framework Wrapper Class Library
 Usage System.Data.Odbc.OdbcConnection
 Manufacturer Microsoft
More info and wrapper class library downloads

Set example values

Use an ODBC driver from .NET

    
Driver={any odbc driver's name};OdbcKey1=someValue;OdbcKey2=someValue;

See the respective ODBC driver's connection strings options. The .net OdbcConnection will just pass on the connection string to the specified ODBC driver. Read more here.

 
 

.NET xlReader for Microsoft Excel

Type .NET Framework Class Library
 Usage VM.xPort.ExcelClient.ExcelConnection
 Manufacturer xPortTools
More info and class library downloads

Set example values

Excel file with header row

    
Data Source =c:\myExcelFile.xls;HDR=yes;Format=xls;
 
 

Excel file without header row

    
Data Source =c:\myExcelFile.xls;HDR=no;Format=xls;
 
 

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