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ParaGlow

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Updating a SharePoint list from an Excel spreadsheet

Can an Excel spreadsheet be used to update a SharePoint list by an automated process ?  That is, the automation will compare the two sets of data (Excel spreadsheet and the SharePoint list) and where there are rows in the spreadsheet not found in the list, those rows will be added to the list.  Thanks.
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Greg Burns
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ParaGlow

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The Excel spreadsheet is saved on user's desktop, but can be stored in SharePoint if need be.  Since they are both Microsoft products I would have thought there is a definitive answer.
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As Greg mentioned, (with some good information), there are ways to do this. But as you mention, there is no definitive answer. I do have a few questions for you:

You seem to want to have two copies of the same data, one on the users desktop and one on SharePoint. Why?
Why can't the user enter data directly in to the SharePoint list?
Have you considered doing this with Access? (Access and SharePoint can be kept in sync.)

Also, generally there is no live sync connection method possible between an Excel spreadsheet and a SharePoint list out of the box. There are third party tools that do this however. I do have a feeling that what you want to do is not as complicated as it sounds initial.

Thanks
Sneek, the reason is that User A needs to input weekly data to the SharePoint list so that Users B and C can then do their stuff on the list.

<< Why can't the user enter data directly in to the SharePoint list? >>  Too much data to enter manually; error prone.

I am quite prepared to consider having an Access interface.
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Or use OneDrive for Business (or SharePoint Workspace) to provide each user with an synchronized copy of the file? You could use check-in and check-out to keep people from overwriting each others' changes.

Alternatively, another thing you can use is Multi-user Editing, which, depending on your version of office and SharePoint, can be shared from a document library or file share, which allows more than one person to open/edit the file at once (even editing via the browser, if you're using Office Web Apps). In excel, if a user is editing a row, that row is read-only for everyone else, until they move off the row. Changes are synchronized periodically.

Note that in a shared workbook some functionality is reduced. More here: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Use-a-shared-workbook-to-collaborate-49b833c0-873b-48d8-8bf2-c1c59a628534
Thanks, glad I could help!