How to Create a Data Catalog in Excel

A good data catalog acts like a library card catalog for all your company's data, telling you what you have, where to find it, and what it all means. For many teams, the thought of setting up a formal data catalog seems overwhelming, requiring specialized and expensive software. The good news is that you can build a simple but incredibly useful data catalog right inside a tool you already use every day: Microsoft Excel. This article will walk you through exactly how to plan, build, and maintain a practical data catalog using an Excel spreadsheet.

What is a Data Catalog, and Why Does My Team Need One?

Think of all the data your team uses: marketing reports, sales spreadsheets, customer lists from your CRM, website traffic data from Google Analytics, and dozens of other files scattered across shared drives and SaaS platforms. A data catalog is simply an organized inventory of all those data assets. Its primary job is to help people find, understand, and trust the data they need to do their jobs.

Without one, you end up with "data chaos," where team members waste hours asking questions like:

"Where can I find the latest sales report for Q3?"
"Who is the owner of the customer feedback spreadsheet?"
"Does this marketing campaign report include data from Facebook Ads, or just Google Ads?"
"Is this dashboard updated daily or weekly?"

A well-maintained catalog answers these questions instantly. It creates a single source of truth that documents your assets, fostering a more data-driven culture by making data accessible and understandable to everyone, not just your tech team.

Before You Begin: Planning Your Excel Data Catalog

Before you even open Excel, the most important step is to plan what information you want to track. Rushing this step is like trying to build a house without a blueprint. The information you track about your data is called metadata - data about your data. A good catalog includes a mix of business, technical, and operational metadata.

Start by creating a list of the metadata fields you’ll use as columns in your spreadsheet. Here are some essential fields to consider, organized by category:

Fundamental Information

Data Asset ID: A unique identifier for each entry (e.g., MKT-001, SALES-002). This prevents confusion if asset names are similar.
Asset Name: A clear, descriptive name (e.g., "Monthly Google Analytics Traffic Report").
Description: A brief summary explaining what the data asset is, what it measures, and its purpose. (e.g., "A monthly dashboard showing website sessions, users, and conversion rates by traffic source.")
Type: The format of the asset (e.g., Excel Workbook, Google Sheet, Tableau Dashboard, Salesforce Report, CSV Export).
Owner: The person or team responsible for maintaining the accuracy and quality of the data asset. This is who you ask if something looks wrong.

Technical & Locational Information

Source System: The primary platform where the data originates (e.g., Google Analytics, Shopify, Salesforce, HubSpot).
Location: A direct link to the asset. This could be a hyperlink to a file on a shared drive, a URL for a BI dashboard, or a link to a specific report in a SaaS tool.
Refresh Frequency: How often the data is updated (e.g., Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Live, Ad-hoc).

Business & Governance Information

Business Department: The department that primarily uses this asset (e.g., Marketing, Sales, Finance).
Data Sensitivity: A classification level to manage access (e.g., Public, Internal Use Only, Confidential, PII).
Data Steward: The person who is the subject matter expert on this data, who understands its business context. Sometimes this is the same as the owner, but not always.
Status: The current state of the asset (e.g., Active, Archived, In Development).

Step-by-Step Guide to Building the Data Catalog in Excel

Once you’ve outlined your metadata fields, you’re ready to build the catalog. Follow these steps to create a flexible and user-friendly spreadsheet that's easy to manage.

Step 1: Set Up the Workbook

Open a new Excel workbook. The first and most important best practice is to give your tabs clear names. Rename the first sheet to "Data Catalog". You can create additional sheets later for things like a business glossary or a list for dropdown menus, so keeping them organized is important.

Step 2: Create Your Header Row

In the "Data Catalog" sheet, populate your header row (row 1) with the metadata fields you decided on in the planning phase. Your header row in cells A1, B1, C1, and so on might look like this:

Make sure to freeze the top row so your headers are always visible as you scroll. You can do this by clicking cell A2, then going to the View tab and selecting Freeze Panes > Freeze Top Row.

Step 3: Format Your Data as an Excel Table

This is a critical step that many people skip. Converting your data range into a formal Excel Table unlocks powerful features like filtering, sorting, and automatic styling that make managing your catalog much easier.

Click anywhere inside your header row.
Go to the Insert tab on the ribbon and click Table.
A "Create Table" dialog box will appear. Ensure the range is correct and, most importantly, check the box that says "My table has headers."
Click OK.

Your header row will now have filter dropdowns, and the table will automatically expand as you add new rows of data. You can also customize the table's design from the "Table Design" tab that appears when your table is selected.

Step 4: Populate Your Catalog with Entries

Now it’s time to start adding your data assets. Fill in the information for each asset row by row. It’s best to start with your team’s most critical and frequently used reports and spreadsheets first.

Here’s a practical example of what a few entries might look like:

MKT-001: Q3 Marketing Campaign Performance | Summary of ROI for all Q3 campaigns from GA, Facebook & Google Ads. | Jane Doe | Marketing | Google Sheet | [URL Link] | Internal Use Only | Weekly | Active
SALES-001: Weekly Sales Pipeline - Salesforce | Dashboard showing new leads, opportunities, and deal stages for the current week. | John Smith | Sales | Salesforce Dashboard | [URL Link] | Confidential | Live | Active
FIN-001: Monthly Expense Report (CSV) | CSV export from QuickBooks showing all departmental expenses. | Emily White | Finance | QuickBooks | [File Path Link] | Confidential | Monthly | Active

Step 5: Use Data Validation to Maintain Consistency

To keep your catalog clean and prevent typos, use Excel’s Data Validation feature to create dropdown lists for certain columns. Fields like "Owner," "Department," "Data Sensitivity," and "Refresh Frequency" are perfect candidates.

Create a new sheet and name it "Lists."
On this "Lists" sheet, create your lists. For example, in column A, you could list all valid "Refresh Frequency" options: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Live, Ad-Hoc. In column B, list your "Data Sensitivity" options: Public, Internal Use Only, Confidential.
Go back to your "Data Catalog" sheet. Click to select the entire column where you want the dropdown to appear (e.g., column I, for "Refresh Frequency").
Navigate to the Data tab and click Data Validation.
In the "Settings" tab, under "Allow:", choose List.
In the "Source:" box, click the small arrow icon and navigate back to your "Lists" sheet. Select the range that contains your list (e.g., select cells A2:A6 for your refresh frequencies).
Click OK.

Now, when anyone clicks on a cell in that column, they will see a dropdown arrow with pre-defined options. This ensures terminology is consistent across the entire catalog.

Best Practices and Limitations

An Excel data catalog can be incredibly effective, but it requires discipline. Here are some final tips and things to keep in mind.

Tips for Making it Better

Use Hyperlinks: For the "Location" column, make sure you use hyperlinks (Ctrl+K or Cmd+K) so that users can click directly to access the data asset.
Create a Glossary Tab: Add another sheet named "Business Glossary" to define key business terms (e.g., What does "MQL" mean in our company? How do we calculate "Customer Lifetime Value"?). This adds valuable context to your data.
Establish a Process: A catalog is only useful if it's up-to-date. Establish a clear process for who adds new assets and who is responsible for periodically reviewing existing ones for accuracy.

Recognizing the Limitations

While great for getting started, an Excel-based catalog has its limits. As your company grows, you'll run into challenges with:

Manual Upkeep: Every update is a manual process. If a file is moved or a report's refresh schedule changes, someone has to remember to go and update the spreadsheet.
Scalability: Excel can become slow and cumbersome with hundreds or thousands of entries.
Collaboration: True real-time collaboration can be tricky, and version control can become an issue ('Catalog_FINAL_v3.xlsx' is a scary sight).
Lack of Automation: There is no automated way for the spreadsheet to "crawl" your systems and discover new data assets.

This approach is perfect for small-to-medium teams or as a first step in building a more formal data governance strategy. The act of cataloging data itself - even in a spreadsheet - forces valuable conversations and clarifies responsibility across your team.

Final Thoughts

Building a data catalog in Excel is an accessible, low-cost way to bring order to your data chaos and empower your team to find and use information more effectively. It forces you to think critically about your data assets and establishes a foundation for better data management, even if you eventually move to a more specialized tool.

Manually documenting assets and connecting disparate data sources are often the most time-consuming parts of data management. At Graphed we help solve this by automating the tedious work. We directly connect to your key data sources — like Google Analytics, Shopify, and Salesforce — eliminating the need for manual data pulls into spreadsheets. Instead of browsing a static Excel catalog, your entire team can get live dashboards and reports just by asking questions in simple, plain English, finally making your data truly interactive and accessible.