Aniruddah Alam
In this article, I will discuss some possible solutions to Excel Queries and Connections not working. Excel Queries and Connections is a powerful tool when it comes to importing data from different sources. But, while working on Excel queries and connections, we may face some problems. In this article, I will try to discuss these problems and provide some possible solutions to those problems.
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What Are Queries and Connections in Excel?
In Excel, a query is a way to retrieve specific data from a data source, such as a database or a spreadsheet. We can also use Queries to filter, sort, and aggregate data, and save them for later use. Once we create a Query, we can run it to retrieve the desired data and import them into an Excel worksheet.
A connection in Excel refers to the link between an Excel workbook and an external data source, such as a database or a web page. We can use Connections to bring data into an Excel worksheet, as well as to update or refresh the data automatically. For example, if you have a database that contains sales data and you want to analyze that data in Excel, you would create a connection to the database so that you can import the data into an Excel worksheet.
4 Possible Reasons with Solutions If Excel Queries and Connections Are Not Working
There are various reasons behind the problem when Excel Queries and Connections are not working properly. Some of the possible reasons are:
Reason 1: The Source Has Not Been Saved Properly
If you don’t save the source file properly, the Excel Queries and Connections won’t work properly.
Solution: Save the Source Properly
Before establishing connections, go to your source file and ensure that you have saved the file properly.
Reason 2: Existing Connections Are Obsolete
You may face problems in Excel Queries and Connections if your connections are obsolete or not up to date. Maybe the displayed items in the Queries are from the cache memory rather than from the direct source.
Solution: Refresh the Connections
To solve the issue, you need to refresh the connections. To refresh connections, follow the steps below.
Steps:
- First, go to the Queries & Connections sidebar.
- Now on the Queries, click on the Refresh icon.
- As a result, the Query’s data will be refreshed.
Read More: Refresh All Data Connections and Pivot Tables with Excel VBA
Reason 3: The Query Includes Incompatible Expressions
If your source file has some kind of expression that is not supported by Excel, then this will may create problems in Excel Queries and Connections.
Solution: Change the Expressions
To solve the issue, either we need to remove the portion of the data that contain incompatible data or use Excel recognized expression in the place of them. For Example, if your source is Microsoft Access Database, then you need to be careful about some expressions like nz() function which are incompatible with Excel.
Reason 4: Power Query Close and Load to Feature Greyed out
Sometimes, there are some occasions where the Close and Load option in the Power Query window is greyed out. (See the following picture)
Solution: Change the Type of Connection
To solve the issue, follow the steps below.
Steps:
- First, check the type of Query Connection. You can do that by going to the Queries and Connections sidebar.
- If the type is Connection only, then you can not use Close and Load to To change the type of connection, right-click on the sidebar and then go to the Load To option.
- Now, a new dialogue box named Import Data will open like this.
- From here, we can choose Table instead of Only Create Connection and load this data to the Existing worksheet or into a New worksheet. Finally, click on OK.
As a result, we can load it into any of our desired worksheets.
Read More: How to Refresh Data Connection in Excel Without Opening File
Things to Remember
- For solving your own problem regarding Excel Queries and Connections, you need to properly identify what kind of problem you are having among the 4 types mentioned above. Then you can take the appropriate approach to solve the problem.
Conclusion
That is the end of this article regarding Excel Queries and Connections not working. If you find this article helpful, please share this with your friends. Moreover, do let us know if you have any further queries. Finally, please visit Exceldemy for more exciting articles on Excel.
