Google Sheets and Excel both feature many ways to import different types of data into your spreadsheet. These can be useful when preparing a Geckoboard-specific spreadsheet that fetches the data you need from a source spreadsheet.

Import data using Google Sheets

Google Sheets has powerful built-in import functions that can easily scrape data from web pages, feeds, and files.

Note: Widgets powered by spreadsheets using these functions update refresh approx. every 15 minutes.

Function	Description	Syntax
ImportData	Fetches data from a given URL in .csv (comma-separated value) or .tsv (tab-separated value) file format.	`IMPORTDATA(url)`
ImportFeed	Imports an RSS or ATOM XML feed.	`IMPORTFEED(url, query, headers, num_items)`
ImportHTML	Imports data from a table or list within an .html page.	`IMPORTHTML(url, query, index)`
ImportRange	Imports a range of cells from a specified spreadsheet.	`IMPORTRANGE(spreadsheet_key, range_string)`
ImportXML	Imports data from structured data types including .xml, .html, .csv, .tsv, and RSS and ATOM XML feeds.	`IMPORTXML(url, xpath_query)`
GoogleFinance	Fetches current or historical market data from Google Finance.	`GOOGLEFINANCE(ticker, [attribute], [start_date], [num_days\|end_date], [interval])`

Scripts and third-party add-ons for Google Sheets

There are several helpful services, add-ons, and third-party tools that specialize in getting data into Google Sheets.

Sync data from APIs using JSON
Thanks to third-party developers, you can sync data from other platform's APIs into a Google Sheet.

Learn how to import JSON data to a Google Sheet.

Refresh your data daily with Supermetrics paid service
Supermetrics enables you to schedule an automatic daily refresh of your data on Google Sheets.

Learn how to Automatically refresh your Google Sheets data daily with Supermetrics.

Importing using Excel

In Excel, you can import data from several data sources:

Import data from an Access database
Export data from an Access database in a file format that can be read by Excel.

Learn how to import data to Excel from an Access database.

Import data from a spreadsheet
Import data from an existing workbook, then specify the relationships between your existing data and the new data.

Learn how to import data from an existing Excel spreadsheet.

Import data using copy and paste
Import data from a table you've found on a web page, or any other source from which you can copy and paste into Excel. Use press Ctrl + T to format the pasted data as a table.

Learn how to import data using copy and paste.

Import text files with Excel
There are two ways to import data from a text (.txt or .csv) file with Excel: you can open it in Excel, or you can import it as an external data range.

Learn how to import text files with Excel.

Third-party add-on for Excel

Report Builder for Adobe Analytics paid service
Report Builder is an Excel plugin that enables you to import your Adobe Analytics data into Excel.

Connect your spreadsheet to Geckoboard

With your data imported, you're all set to turn your spreadsheet into an easy-to-understand dashboard.

Prepare your spreadsheet for connecting to Geckoboard

Use ImportData to display online data in Geckoboard

Use GoogleFinance to display market data in Geckoboard

Use ImportRange to extract data needed for Geckoboard to a new spreadsheet

Calculate spreadsheet data before connecting to Geckoboard