When it comes to CRM, Salesforce is no stranger to popularity. In fact, it’s been ranked as IDC’s number one CRM provider for 11 consecutive years. This year, G2 named Salesforce the best software company ahead of names like Google and HubSpot. It even cracked the Fortune 500, coming in at 491 in 2023. 

Suffice it to say: A lot of people use—and love—Salesforce. 

Which means they’re always looking for better ways to use Salesforce and its data. One of those ways is integrating Salesforce with an equally popular counterpart: Excel. Integrating these two powerhouses results in benefits like efficient data synchronization, reduced manual data entry, enhanced data accuracy, and advanced reporting and analysis. 

If you’re here, you’re probably looking at ways to integrate (or better integrate) your Salesforce with Excel. So let’s take a look at some of the more popular methods. 

Top Ways to Connect Salesforce and Excel

Integrations create opportunity to leverage the strengths of both platforms and link them together for better processes and outcomes. For Salesforce and Excel, you’ve got Salesforce’s robust strength in managing customer relationships and sales processes linked up with Excel’s superior capabilities in handling complex calculations, extensive data manipulation, and detailed statistical analysis. 

Here are the top ways different organizations are tackling this Excel and Salesforce integration.

 

🔌 1. Salesforce Data Export (Manual or Scheduled)

• Best for: One-time or simple recurring exports
  • Use Salesforce Reports or Data Export Wizard to export data to CSV, then open in Excel.
  • Automate with Salesforce scheduled reports emailed as CSV attachments.
• ✅ Pros: Easy, no setup
  ❌ Cons: Static data, no real-time sync

 

🔄 2. Excel Connector for Salesforce (Official Add-in)

• Best for: Users who want to pull data into Excel directly
  • The Salesforce Excel Add-in (via Microsoft AppSource) allows you to:
    • Pull Salesforce report data directly into Excel
      Refresh data in-place
    • Push updates from Excel to Salesforce (if supported)
• ✅ Pros: Live data pull, easy for end users
  ❌ Cons: May require license, not full automation

 

📊 3. Power Query / Power BI for Excel

• Best for: Reporting & dashboards with dynamic refresh
  • Use Power Query in Excel to connect to Salesforce objects via API
  • Power BI also allows importing Salesforce data and analyzing it inside Excel
• ✅ Pros: Powerful, flexible analytics and transformation
  ❌ Cons: May need API access setup and authentication handling

 

🔗 4. Salesforce Reports + Microsoft Power Automate

• Best for: Automating data transfer workflows
  • Set up flows that trigger on Salesforce events and push the data into Excel Online (OneDrive or SharePoint)
  • Useful for real-time or event-driven integrations
• ✅ Pros: No-code option, works across Microsoft 365
  ❌ Cons: Learning curve; best for simple use cases

 

🧩 5. Custom API Integration

• Best for: Developer teams needing complete control
  • Build scripts or apps using:
    
    • Salesforce REST or Bulk API
    • Microsoft Graph API (for Excel Online) or Office Scripts
    • Use Python, JavaScript, or .NET to extract data and write to Excel (or vice versa)
• ✅ Pros: Fully tailored
  ❌ Cons: Requires developer resources

 

☁️ 6. Third-Party Integration 

• Best for: Complex or bi-directional integrations
  • Tools can sync Salesforce data with Excel in real-time or at intervals.
• ✅ Pros: Customizable triggers, scalable
  ❌ Cons: May incur cost, limited by Excel file size/API

 

Why You Should Consider Third-Party Integration

So you’ve established that you want Excel and Salesforce integration, and now you know some of the top ways to do that. 

We’re going to chime in with a suggestion that you take a closer look at the third-party integration option, and not just because we are an integration organization. 

Well, that might influence us a little, but hear us out.

Integration solutions—like our own ExtendInsights—are purpose built to work as intuitively as possible with your Salesforce data right in Excel. Rather than exporting a CSV file and manipulating it manually every time, third-party integrations will help you set up dynamic spreadsheets where data will update on a regular basis (or on a single click, if you need to force a quick refresh for a to-the-moment insight), continually updating the reporting templates fed by that data. 

At CloudExtend, we took it a step further with ExtendInsights, letting you use Excel to easily upload data back to Salesforce without having to rely on Dataloader or CSV imports. And you’re not limited by file size: Upload thousands of lines without issue, and get your data validated instantly so there are no surprises. 

In short, using ExtendInsights for Excel and Salesforce integration will get you:

• Real-time data updates
• Deep Salesforce integration
• Comprehensive data management
• Automation and ease of use
• Cost-effective pricing 
• Secure data handling
• Support for all Salesforce data types
• Robust support, both on-demand and trainer-led 

But don’t just take our word for it. Try it for yourself, completely free, for two weeks. Let’s get you integrated.