This section summarizes how MySQL for Excel progressed with each minor and major release.
Most of the new features added to MySQL for Excel 1.3.x involve improvements to the Data Import functionality.
You can now refresh imported data from the source MySQL database by clicking from the context-menu, or from the navigation menu. These check for changes in the source MySQL database and update your imported MySQL data accordingly.
Use case: A colleague sends you a MySQL Excel spreadsheet with data exported from a MySQL database. You open the file several days later, and worry that the data is outdated so you click .
A new button was added to the options pages. It changes each option to the default value, and you then confirm (or cancel) the application of these changes.
Enabling the new Add Summary Fields for Numeric Columns option adds a summary field to the end of each numeric column in Excel. From here, you choose the desired function for the column, such as total or average.
You may now import data from multiple objects in a single operation. Use Control or Shift to select multiple objects (tables and/or views) from the MySQL for Excel panel, and click to open the new dialog for selecting additional objects that have direct relationships to the objects you selected. Each object opens in its own Worksheet.
From this new dialog, you may also generate a Relationships model in Excel. This functionality requires Excel 2013 or higher, or Excel 2010 with the PowerPivot add-in.
A new Create a PivotTable with the Imported Data option was added. This creates a Pivot Table in Excel.
All options now have descriptive tooltips. Hover over an option/preference to view helpful information about its use.
You may now specify a collation for created schemas. The collation type defaults to "Server Default." These statements can be reviewed before execution.
All MySQL data types are now available when performing Data Export operations. By default, only the most commonly used data types are listed, which was only behavior in previous versions of MySQL for Excel. You may still type in a type instead of selecting it.
Edit Connections: MySQL connections can now
be edited from within the MySQL for Excel plugin by right-clicking
and choosing Edit Connection. Before,
these connections could only be edited with MySQL Workbench.
Optimistic Updates: Previously, only
"Pessimistic Updates" were used, which means that pressing
Commit Changes would overwrite changes
performed outside of MySQL for Excel for the edited cells.
Both options remain available today, and optimistic updates are enabled by default. This update type can be set either as a preference, or toggled per session.
The Append Data dialog will now notify you of incompatible types (with visual warnings) when mapping source Excel columns to target MySQL columns.
If a mismatch is discovered, then the column in the source grid that contains the mapped Excel data turns red, and selecting this column displays a warning with text explaining that the source data is not suitable for the mapped target column's data type.
New preview preferences allow you to enable one of the following three options:
Preview SQL statements before they are sent to the Server: View (and optionally) edit the MySQL UPDATE/INSERT statements before they are committed.
Show executed SQL statements along with the results: View the statements after they are committed, which is the current behavior.
Do not show the MySQL statements: Only show summary information, such as number of affected rows, and not MySQL statements. This is enabled by default.
Create Table: The Data Export feature now has the option to only create the table without inserting the data.
To execute, toggle the button to , and then click.
The selected schema name is now displayed on top of the MySQL for Excel Database Object Selection panel.
The Advanced Options dialogs opened from the Import, Export and Append Data windows now immediately apply the option changes, when before the Advanced Options dialog had to be reopened before the changes could be previewed.
Edit Data sessions can now be saved: Using the new Edit Session preferences, these sessions were automatically closed after closing an Excel workbook. This data, such as the Workbench connection ID, MySQL schema, and MySQL table name, can now be preserved if the Excel workbook is saved to disk, and available when the Excel workbook is reopened.
Excel tables are automatically created for any data imported from MySQL to an Excel worksheet, with a name like "Schema.DB-Object-name". The DB object name can be a MySQL table, view, or stored procedure. Options for this feature are listed under Import Data, Advanced Options. The newly created Excel tables can be referenced for data analysis in Pivot Tables or reports.