How to Import Data from Amazon Redshift to Excel via ODBC Driver

There are several reasons why you might want to import data from Amazon Redshift to Excel via an ODBC driver:

• Convenience: ODBC drivers allow you to connect to a database and import data directly into Excel, making it easy to retrieve data and work with it in a familiar environment.

• Data analysis: Excel is a powerful tool for analyzing and visualizing data, and importing data from Redshift allows you to take advantage of these capabilities on your Redshift data.

• Sharing: Excel files are a convenient way to share data with others, and importing data from Redshift into Excel allows you to create files that can be easily shared with colleagues.

• Collaboration: Multiple users can work with the same Excel file at the same time, making it a good choice for collaboration on data analysis projects.

• Compatibility: Excel is widely used and compatible with many different platforms, making it easy to work with data from Redshift on a variety of devices.

Let’s take a closer look at why it is a convenient way to import data and how to do it right.

Table of Contents

• About Microsoft Excel
• About Amazon Redshift
• What is an ODBC driver?
• How to Install ODBC driver
• Import into Excel from Amazon Redshift with Get & Transform (Power Query)
• Import into Excel from Amazon Redshift with Data Connection Wizard (Legacy Wizard)
• Import into Excel from Amazon Redshift with the Query Wizard
• Import into Excel from Amazon Redshift with Microsoft Query
• Import into Excel from Amazon Redshift with PowerPivot
• Conclusion

About Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program that is part of the Microsoft Office suite of productivity tools. Individuals use it, businesses, and organizations to store, organize, and analyze data.

There are several reasons why people use Excel:

1. Data organization: Excel allows users to organize data into rows and columns, making it easy to sort, filter, and manipulate data.
2. Calculations: Excel includes a variety of functions that can be used to perform calculations on data, such as summing up values, finding the average, or calculating the maximum or minimum value.
3. Visualization: Excel allows users to create various charts and graphs to visualize data, making it easier to understand and communicate trends and patterns.
4. Collaboration: Excel supports multiple users working on the same file simultaneously, making it a good choice for collaboration on data analysis projects.
5. Compatibility: Excel is widely used and compatible with many different platforms, making it easy to work with data on various devices.

About Amazon Redshift

Amazon Redshift ODBC Driver is a fully managed, petabyte-scale data warehouse service that makes it simple and cost-effective to analyze all your data using SQL and your existing business intelligence (BI) tools. It is part of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform and is designed to handle very large amounts of data quickly and efficiently.

With Amazon Redshift, you can start analyzing your data within minutes of loading it, using the same SQL skills and BI tools you use today. Amazon Redshift automatically resizes compute capacity up or down based on workload, so you only pay for what you use. It also integrates with other AWS services such as Amazon S3 and Amazon EMR, making it easy to build a complete data analytics solution in the cloud.

A cloud data warehouse is a database that is hosted on a cloud computing platform, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform. It is designed to store and analyze large amounts of data quickly and efficiently and is typically accessed through SQL-based query languages.

Cloud data warehouse services typically allow users to load data into the warehouse using tools such as SQL or ETL (extract, transform, load) processes. The data is then stored in a highly optimized and distributed manner, allowing for fast querying and analysis. Users can access the data using SQL-based query languages or through business intelligence (BI) tools such as Tableau or Power BI.

Cloud data warehouse services can be integrated with other cloud-based services in a number of ways. For example, they can be used with cloud-based ETL tools to load and transform data from various sources. They can also be integrated with other data storage and processing services, such as NoSQL databases or big data analytics platforms, to create a complete data analytics solution.

Advantages of Amazon Redshift

• Scalability: Amazon Redshift is designed to scale up or down based on the workload’s needs, allowing users to easily adjust the amount of computing power and storage as needed.
• Performance: Amazon Redshift is optimized for fast querying and data analysis, making it suitable for use with large datasets.
• Integration with other AWS services: Amazon Redshift integrates with other AWS services such as Amazon S3 and Amazon EMR, making it easy to build a complete data analytics solution in the cloud.
• Cost-effectiveness: Amazon Redshift is a fully managed service, which means that users don’t have to worry about the underlying infrastructure or maintenance. It also includes a pay-as-you-go pricing model, so users only pay for the resources they use.
• Security: Amazon Redshift includes a number of security features such as encryption at rest and in transit, as well as integration with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) to control access to data.

What is an ODBC driver?

ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) is a standardized database driver that allows applications to connect to a wide variety of databases in a uniform way. ODBC drivers are commonly used because they provide a consistent interface for interacting with databases, regardless of the underlying database system being used.

Experts find ODBC drivers useful because they allow them to connect to and work with a wide variety of databases using a single, standardized interface. This makes it easier to develop and maintain applications that need to connect to databases, as the developer does not need to worry about the specific details of each database system. ODBC drivers also allow applications to be more flexible, as they can be easily reconfigured to connect to different databases without requiring any changes to the application code.

Key features of Devart ODBC Drivers

Devart ODBC Drivers are a set of database drivers that provide access to various database systems through the ODBC interface. Some key features of Devart ODBC Drivers include:

• Support for a wide range of databases: Devart ODBC Drivers support a variety of database systems, including popular databases such as MySQL, Oracle, and PostgreSQL, as well as more specialized databases such as MongoDB and Cassandra.
• High performance: Devart ODBC Drivers are optimized for fast data access and can handle large volumes of data with ease.
• Enhanced functionality: Devart ODBC Drivers include additional functionality beyond the standard ODBC interface, such as support for bulk loading and optimized data processing.
• Easy integration: Devart ODBC Drivers can be easily integrated with a variety of applications and programming languages, making it easy to connect to databases and work with data.
• Cross-platform support: Devart ODBC Drivers are available for various platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• Comprehensive documentation: Devart provides comprehensive documentation and support resources to help users get the most out of their ODBC Drivers.

How to Install ODBC driver

The process for installing an ODBC driver will vary depending on the operating system you are using and the specific driver you are installing. In general, however, the steps for installing an ODBC driver are as follows:

1. Download the ODBC driver from the manufacturer’s website or from a third-party source.
2. Extract the contents of the downloaded driver package to a location on your computer.
3. Open the ODBC Data Source Administrator utility. On Windows, this can be done by going to the Start menu and searching for “ODBC Data Sources”. On macOS, this utility is called “ODBC Administrator” and can be found in the Utilities folder.
4. In the ODBC Data Source Administrator, click the “Add” button to add a new ODBC driver.
5. Follow the prompts to install the driver. This may include specifying the location of the driver files and providing any necessary authentication information.
6. Once the driver is installed, you should be able to use it to connect to a database using an ODBC-compliant application.

Note: If you are installing an ODBC driver for a specific application, the application may include its instructions for installing the driver. In this case, you should follow the instructions provided by the application.

Import into Excel from Amazon Redshift with Get & Transform (Power Query)

To import data from Amazon Redshift into Excel using Get & Transform (also known as Power Query), you will need to have the Amazon Redshift ODBC driver installed on your computer. Once you have the driver installed, you can use the following steps to import data from Amazon Redshift into Excel:

1. Open Excel and go to the Data tab.
2. Click the “From Other Sources” button, then select the “From Data Connection Wizard” option.
3. Choose the “ODBC DSN” option and select the Amazon Redshift ODBC DSN that you set up previously.