How to Transfer Data to Excel

Getting your data into a spreadsheet is often the first, and most tedious, step in any analysis. Before you can build charts, create pivot tables, or find insights, you have to wrangle all your information into one place. This guide walks you through the best methods for transferring data to Excel, from quick copy-paste jobs to more powerful, automated connections.

The Basics: Manual Entry and Copy-Paste

Sometimes the simplest methods are all you need. While they have limitations, getting familiar with the fundamentals of manual entry and strategic pasting is essential for any Excel user.

Manual Data Entry

Typing data directly into cells is as straightforward as it gets. It’s the original method of data transfer, and it’s still perfectly fine for:

Small, one-off datasets.
Adding notes or context to existing data.
Recording information from physical documents or ad-hoc conversations.

However, it's slow, prone to human error, and completely impractical for large amounts of information. If you have more than two dozen rows, you should probably use one of the other methods below.

Copying and Pasting Data

The classic Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V is a go-to for quickly moving data from another program, a website, or a different spreadsheet into Excel. It's incredibly fast, but it can sometimes bring unwanted formatting along with it.

To avoid messy formatting, learn to love Paste Special. After copying your data, right-click on the destination cell in Excel and look for the "Paste Special" options.

Here are a few powerful choices:

Values (V): This is the most useful option. It pastes only the raw text and numbers, ignoring any source formatting like colors, fonts, or cell borders. This gives you a clean slate to work with.
Transpose (T): This flips your data on its side. If you copy a column of data, Transpose will paste it as a row, and vice-versa. It’s a huge time-saver for restructuring data on the fly.
Formulas (F): Pastes the formulas from the copied cells, not the resulting values. Useful when duplicating calculations across your sheet.
Keep Source Formatting (K): The default Ctrl+V option. It tries its best to replicate the look and feel of the original data source.

Importing Data From Files

Most SaaS platforms, from CRM and marketing automation to e-commerce, allow you to export your data as a file. Excel's built-in import tools are designed to handle these files reliably, saving you from chaotic copy-paste situations.

How to Import from Text or CSV Files

A Comma-Separated Values (CSV) file looks like a spreadsheet but is actually a simple text file. It's the most common format for exporting data from applications like HubSpot, Shopify, Mailchimp, or even bank websites. Importing them correctly preserves your data's structure.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Go to the Data tab on the Excel ribbon.
In the "Get & Transform Data" section, click From Text/CSV.
Navigate to your downloaded CSV or TXT file and click Import.
An import wizard will pop up, showing a preview of your data. Excel is usually smart enough to detect the right delimiter - the character separating your columns (typically a comma). If it looks wrong, you can change it here.
Click Load. Excel will pull the data into a new, neatly formatted table in a new worksheet.

The main advantage here is that Excel creates a "Table" object, which is great for sorting, filtering, and using in pivot tables. It's far more structured than a simple paste.

Importing Data from Other Excel Workbooks

Sometimes your data is spread across multiple Excel files. Instead of opening each one and copying the data, you can import it directly.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Go to the Data tab.
Click Get Data > From File > From Excel Workbook.
Choose the Excel file you want to pull data from.
A "Navigator" window will appear, letting you choose which worksheet or specific table you want to import.
Click Load to bring the data into your current workbook.

This creates a live link to the source file. If the original workbook is updated, you can go to the Data tab and click Refresh All to pull in the latest changes without re-importing.

Bringing in Data from External Sources

Excel can do more than just open local files. It can also connect directly to web pages and databases to pull in live or semi-live information, turning your spreadsheet into a simple dashboard.

How to Get Data in Excel From a Web Page

Have you ever needed to track competitor pricing or pull a table of stats from a website? Excel's "From Web" connector is perfect for this.

Let's say you want to import a table of top-selling products from a supplier's public webpage.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

First, copy the URL of the webpage containing the data.
In Excel, go to the Data tab and click From Web.
Paste the URL into the dialog box and click OK.
Excel will analyze the page and show you all the structured tables it found in the "Navigator" pane.
Click on each table suggestion to preview the data on the right. Once you find the one you need, select it.
Click Load. Excel will import the web table into a new sheet.

Just like with importing Excel files, this creates a refreshable connection. You can grab the latest data from the website anytime by clicking Refresh All.

Connecting to Databases (for Advanced Users)

For those working in a more corporate environment, Excel can plug directly into company databases like SQL Server, Microsoft Access, or Oracle.

You can find these options under Data > Get Data > From Database. The process typically involves providing server addresses and login credentials given to you by your IT department. While powerful, this is less common for the typical marketer or entrepreneur who gets most of their data from SaaS app exports.

Automate Your Data Imports with Power Query

If you find yourself repeatedly downloading the same report every week, cleaning it up, and pasting it into a master spreadsheet, then Power Query is about to become your best friend. It’s a free, built-in Excel tool designed to automate data connection and transformation.

Think of it as a macro recorder for your import process. You show it once how to connect to and clean up your data, and it remembers those steps forever.

What Makes Power Query a Game-Changer?

It's Repeatable: Power Query records every step you take - connecting to a file, removing columns, filtering rows, etc. To re-run the entire process, all you have to do is click "Refresh."
It Cleans Data Non-Destructively: It works on a preview of your data, so your original source file remains untouched. You can fix errors, merge columns, or remove messy data without fear of messing up the raw files.
It Connects to Almost Anything: It's the engine behind all the modern "Get Data" features mentioned above (From Web, From CSV, etc.). It can even connect to an entire folder of files - for instance, pulling every monthly sales CSV report into one master table automatically.

A Quick Power Query Example: Combining Multiple Files

Imagine you have a folder where you save a new sales report CSV every month. You want a single master table in Excel that contains all sales data from all months, and it should update automatically when you add a new file.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Create a dedicated folder and place all your monthly sales CSVs inside it.
In Excel, go to Data > Get Data > From File > From Folder.
Browse to and select your folder, then click OK.
A preview window shows you the files in the folder. Don't click Load! Instead, click the "arrow down" button beside it and choose Combine & Transform Data.
Excel will give you a preview based on the first file and then open the Power Query Editor. Here, you could apply any cleaning steps (like removing unneeded columns). If it looks good, just click Close & Load on the Home tab.

Excel will import the data from every single file in that folder into one continuous table. The next time you save a new monthly report to that folder, simply go to Excel, click Data > Refresh All, and your master table will be instantly updated with the new data. No more copy-pasting required.

Final Thoughts

We've explored the full spectrum of transferring data into Excel, from simple copy-pasting for quick tasks to leveraging the incredible automation power of Power Query for your recurring reports. Having a strong command of these methods saves you time and lets you move on to the most important part: analyzing the data to find valuable insights.

While these Excel features are powerful, the process often starts with the time-consuming weekly ritual of logging into tools like Shopify, Facebook Ads, or Google Analytics and manually exporting CSVs. We built Graphed to completely eliminate that manual step. We provide one-click integrations with your marketing and sales platforms, so your data flows into live dashboards automatically. Instead of wasting hours on downloads and cleanup, you can use simple natural language to create reports and get answers in seconds.