There are several ways to open Microsoft Excel workbook (.xls) in Exportizer as a database:

1. Opening through ODBC DSN (Exportizer Pro and Exportizer Enterprise only). Create (if it does not exist yet) an ODBC DSN of the corresponding type using Windows ODBC Data Source Administrator, and point it to your database file. Then select ADO or BDE interface, choose ODBC data source option and then select the needed ODBC DSN from the drop-down list.

2. Opening by specifying file name (interface: ADO). Select File option and then browse for the needed file.

3. Opening through connection string (interface: ADO) (Exportizer Pro and Exportizer Enterprise only). Select Connection string option and write a connection string. This way is the most flexible one because it is possible to specify many additional parameters in the connection string, but it is recommended basically for advanced users. Here are basic connection strings (more examples and details can be found in the Internet):

Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;excel 8.0;DATABASE=C:\MyData\MyExcelData.xls;

Provider=MSDASQL.1;Extended Properties="DBQ=C:\MyData\MyExcelFile.xls;DefaultDir=C:\MyData;Driver={Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls)};DriverId=790;"

Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=c:\MyData\MyExcelFile.xls;Extended Properties="Excel 8.0;HDR=YES";   (Microsoft ACE must be installed)

Sometimes, Excel driver does not see any tables in the file. If you are sure the file has data, try the following:
  • Open the file in Excel or another application which can work with Excel workbooks like Libre Office Calc etc.
  • Select needed cell range.
  • Assign a name to the selected cell range (this will be a table name).
  • Repeat this to all cell ranges you need to see as tables.
  • Save the file.
  • Try to open it in Exportizer again. If the result is unsuccessful, try to open the file by specifying different connection strings.

Attention

  • When choosing the ODBC option, please make sure the corresponding ODBC driver installed and the bit-version of it matches the bit-version of the application (32 or 64).

Notes

  • Each Exportizer edition has both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. You can install both and use them depending on what type of database you need to work with.
  • You can invoke the ODBC Data Source Administrator directly from Exportizer when it was launched in administrator mode: Invoking ODBC Data Source Administrator

See also