[Launched] Public Preview of Excel connector for Looker Studio

[mannybhatia]

Hello Looker Family,

TLDR: We are happy to announce a preview of the Excel connector for Looker Studio. We would appreciate your feedback once you have a chance to test the feature 

What is the Excel Connector for Studio?

Excel connector is our 1P data connector which enables analysts to directly connect to Excel files. This connector removes the need for converting Excel files to Google Sheets or CSV files. In this release analysts will be able to upload Excel files from their local storage. Once uploaded, analysts will be able to connect to a specific worksheet, data table or specify a range for their data. The connector will also infer the data type of columns. See the link for usage Documentation.

Why is it important?

Excel has over 700 million users and is one of the most used spreadsheet and data storage solutions, used by business users and corporate leaders alike. Support for Excel as a 1P data source fulfills a long standing feature request from both Looker Studio, and Looker users. 

Supporting Excel as a data source also helps Looker users analyze their ad-hoc data in Excel files along with governed data, without needing to model the ad hoc data first. The connector also enables users of Conversational Analytics to analyze data from Excel files.

 Known Limitations and other Notes

• Max supported file size currently is 100MB.
• Maximum supported columns from the Excel sheet is 10k
• Only local Excel files (on the user's computer) can be uploaded. 
• The header row must be a single row.
• All cells within a column should be of the same type.
• Password protected files are not supported.
• Macros are not supported.
• Pivot tables are not supported.