Office 2008 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual

Working with Databases

Excel has much in common with database programs. Both kinds of software keep track of a list of records (like cards in a card catalog—or rows of a spreadsheet), and let you browse through those records and even perform some calculations on them. No wonder Excel is so adept at incorporating database files into its spreadsheets; Excel 2008 can access data in Web pages and FileMaker Pro databases, and may be able to use open database connectivity to access data from additional databases such as Microsoft SQL Server. Open database connectivity, usually called ODBC (pronounced “oh-dee-bee-see”), is a standard set of rules for transferring information among databases, even if the databases are in different programs from different companies.

POWER USERS’ CLINIC: Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)

In order to use ODBC to import data, you need to install a driver for the database you want to query. Microsoft doesn’t supply drivers to Office 2008 customers; instead, you have to purchase a driver from another company, such as Actual Technologies (www.actualtechnologies.com) or OpenLink Software (www.openlinksw.com).

Excel 2008 comes equipped with the necessary smarts to use Microsoft Query—software that puts a graphical user interface on the task of creating database queries. With this program, you can create and modify queries in Excel 2008—if you have the driver installed, that is. Look for it in the Applications → Microsoft Office 2008 → Office folder.

Once you’ve rounded ...