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Working with external data sources in Excel
Excel 2008 can retrieve information from database servers, such as a computer that is running
Microsoft SQL Server or other external databases by using third-party Open Database Connectivity
(ODBC) drivers. After you download and install the ODBC drivers, you can use database queries to
retrieve the data. The following table describes each of the query types.
Query type Description
FileMaker
query
A FileMaker query is used to retrieve data from the FileMaker server. To interact with
a FileMaker database, users must have the FileMaker Pro application installed on
their client computers.
Web query A Web query is used to query data from a specific Internet or intranet site and
display the information directly in an Excel 2008 spreadsheet.
Note Web queries are handled by Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connections.
For more information about how to create Web queries, see XL98: How to Create
Web Query Files (KB178870) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base
(support.microsoft.com).
Database
query
A database query is used to request information from database servers, such as a
computer that is running Microsoft SQL Server. To use Microsoft Query in Excel
2008, users must first install compatible ODBC drivers on their computers so that
they can retrieve the data from the database.
For information on how to import data from a database, see Excel 2008 Help.
Text query A text query is used to query the contents of a text file in Excel 2008.