Introducing the Databricks Excel Add-in for Business Users

2026-04-21 · Source: Databricks · Field: Technology & Digital — Data Science & Analytics, Cloud Computing & IT Infrastructure · Depth: Novice, short

Summary

Databricks has released a new Excel Add-in, now in public preview, designed to bridge the gap between business users' daily spreadsheet analysis and the governed data residing in a lakehouse. This add-in allows users to directly import and analyze Databricks data within Excel without requiring SQL knowledge or complex ODBC configurations. Built on Databricks SQL and Unity Catalog, it provides live, governed lakehouse data and curated business semantics, supporting Unity Catalog metric views for consistent definitions across analytics workflows. The tool enables point-and-click selection and filtering of Databricks tables, creation of native Excel pivot tables, and data refresh capabilities, significantly reducing setup friction and democratizing access to trusted, up-to-date business data.

Key takeaway

For finance and operations teams relying on Excel for critical analysis, the Databricks Excel Add-in offers a direct, governed pathway to lakehouse data. This eliminates manual data extracts and ensures your spreadsheets are always backed by trusted, up-to-date business semantics, reducing metric drift and improving decision-making speed. You should explore deploying this add-in to empower your business users while maintaining strong data governance.

Key insights

The Databricks Excel Add-in simplifies governed lakehouse data access for business users in Excel.

Principles

• Democratize data access
• Maintain data governance
• Standardize business semantics

Method

Data teams define governed metric views in Unity Catalog; governance is centrally managed; business users analyze data directly in Excel via the add-in.

In practice

• Use Unity Catalog metric views for KPIs
• Create Excel pivot tables from lakehouse data
• Refresh data to keep spreadsheets current

Topics

• Databricks Excel Add-in
• Data Lakehouse Integration
• Unity Catalog
• Business Semantics
• Data Governance

Best for: Executive, Data Analyst, Director of AI/ML, IT Professional

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by Databricks.