Can i sync Microsoft Excel to Airtable Live?

Short answer: there’s no native way to keep Excel and Airtable “live” and fully in sync.

You can use Excel (or connect to SharePoint / OneDrive) to seed an Airtable base, but after they aren’t connected. Airtable doesn’t offer a built-in real-time or ongoing sync with Excel.

To make it behave like a live connection, you’d need automation in both directions:

• A tool like Power Automate (or another integration platform) to watch for Excel row changes and update matching Airtable records using a unique ID.

• An Airtable automation (or API calls) to write changes back to Excel if you want bi-directional updates.

Or, you could just do a data upload nightly with the .csv uploader extension.

That said, once you go down this path, the bigger question becomes which system is the source of truth. Keeping two tools in real-time, bi-directional sync adds complexity around timing, conflicts, and error handling. In most cases, teams choose one system to be the “system of record” and treat the other as read-only or downstream.

Hey ​@triplexmen !

Benny's right that there's no native real-time sync, but since you're already using Power Automate and just need Airtable for dashboards, you have several solid options:

Best Approach: One-Way Sync (Excel → Airtable)

Since you want to keep Excel as the source of truth and just visualize in Airtable, set up a one-way sync:

Option 1: Power Automate (Recommended)

• Trigger: When a row is added/modified in Excel
• Action: Update or create record in Airtable via API
• Use a unique ID column (like an Order ID or Row Number) to match records
• Frequency: Real-time on changes or scheduled every 15 mins

Option 2: Make (formerly Integromat)

• More flexible than Power Automate for complex data transformations
• Excel/OneDrive → Make → Airtable
• Better handling of upserts (update existing or create new)
• Can process multiple rows in batches

Option 3: Zapier

• Simpler setup than Make
• Good for straightforward row-by-row syncs
• Excel (OneDrive/SharePoint) → Zapier → Airtable

Key Implementation Details:

Required Fields in Both Systems:

• Add a Unique ID column in Excel (if not present)
• Create a Last Modified timestamp in Excel
• Map this ID to Airtable's primary field or a dedicated ID field

Sync Logic:

1. Power Automate monitors Excel for changes
2. For each changed row, check if record exists in Airtable (by unique ID)
3. If exists → Update record
4. If new → Create record

Data Refresh Frequency:

• Real-time: Trigger on each Excel change (can get expensive with automation runs)
• Scheduled: Every 15-30 minutes (more cost-effective)
• Nightly: Full refresh via CSV import extension (simplest, but not "live")

Power Automate Flow Structure:

Trigger: When an item is modified (Excel/SharePoint)
→ Get row details
→ HTTP request to Airtable API
   - Method: PATCH (if updating) or POST (if creating)
   - Headers: Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY
   - Body: Map Excel columns to Airtable fields

Important Considerations:

• Data Direction: One-way only (Excel → Airtable). Teams keep working in Excel, you visualize in Airtable
• Field Type Mapping: Ensure Excel data types match Airtable field types (dates, numbers, dropdowns)
• Automation Limits: Power Automate runs count against your plan limits
• Error Handling: Add try-catch blocks for failed API calls

Alternative: CSV Import Extension

If real-time isn't critical:

• Export Excel to CSV daily/hourly
• Use Airtable's CSV Import extension
• Pros: Simple, no integration platform needed
• Cons: Not automated, manual process

Your specific use case (dashboard visualization only) is perfect for one-way sync. Keep Excel as the system of record, sync to Airtable, and build your dashboards there.

Flow Digital - Airtable Gold Services Partner — We're happy to help!