SharePoint import Excel to existing list

Help individual users get various jobs done, but these are not feasible solutions for team collaboration.

Here are a few features why you should use SharePoint list instead of Excel:

1. Collaboration:

Two users cannot work on the same file at the same time using Excel. But any number of users can work on the same SharePoint list at a time, provided no two users are editing the same list item.

2. Permissions:

Hiding some data from a few users is not possible using Excel. By default, all the rows are visible to every user whoever opens the document. SharePoint allows you to assign unique permissions for list items which can help set the access on certain entries.

3. Workflows:

There is no option to let the designated person know the changes made in the Excel file. SharePoint allows you to trigger associated workflows or trigger alerts when changes are made in list content.

4. Versioning:

Restoring old data is not possible in Excel. Whereas SharePoint allows you to enable versioning for the list which creates another version of the list item every time it is modified so that you can have a track of all the changes done and by whom. You can restore to any of the previous versions if needed.

5. Metadata search:

You cannot identify rows with specific search terms that involve more column values in Excel. Of course, you can achieve that using conditional formatting and filter, but it gets more complex as your search columns are increasing. SharePoint allows you to filter items for any complex search just by clicking the filter and selecting the field values you are looking for.

6. Attachments:

In Excel, only the external links of attachment files can be included. SharePoint allows you to add files to list items.

7. Views and Forms:

SharePoint allows you to create different views and forms for easy management of information.

For example, all the details of projects running in a company are maintained in an excel file. As the number of projects increased, collecting the information from all the project managers from different departments and keeping the track of projects up to date by one single person will be hectic. But you cannot share the file with all the managers due to security reasons. So, you want to share each single project entry with the corresponding manager only to update the status by him and to trigger some workflow to be notified whenever a project status is updated.

If you get the data from excel imported to the SharePoint list, you can achieve all the above requirements.

Here are three ways to import Excel data to a SharePoint list:

1.Import Spreadsheet App:

Add the Import Spreadsheet app in SharePoint and configure the next steps to select the range of data to be imported from the source excel file. This app creates a SharePoint list with the title as spreadsheet name and column names as header columns of the spreadsheet and import data.

This works best for the basic worksheets with text fields. If you have complex sheets with different data types, most of the times you may end up troubleshooting the errors after import because of invalid data for that specific field type. And few data types may be imported as text fields because the app doesnt recognize some data types such as choice and dropdown.

2.Datasheet view:

1. Create a list and corresponding columns in SharePoint as per excel header.
2. Click on the Quick Edit button of the list to open it in the Data Sheet view.
3. Copy the rows from excel and paste the values into Quick Edit view of List.
4. Fix all the value and data type mismatch errors and click Stop button once done. SharePoint wont allow you to complete import unless all the errors are fixed.

Using this technique to import data from excel to a SharePoint list may take more time to set up list columns if you have more columns and, error handling will become tough if you have a large amount of data most of the time leading to reimporting of entire data.

3. SharePoint Migration tools featuring data import from Excel to SharePoint List:

There are very few SharePoint migration tools offering excel import. Out of them, Saketa Migration Tool stands on top because of its features for hassle-free import. Its as simple as selecting the source excel file and the target SharePoint list.

Here is the feature list of Excel Import that makes everyone choose Saketa Migrator over other migration tools to import data from excel:

1. Easy to Use
2. Supports most of excel file formats and CSV
3. Ability to import a specified range of records
4. Ability to map excel columns with list columns
5. Ability to import attachments
6. Ability to check and skip/update if the item already exists
7. Schedule import
8. Ability to import items to custom content type
9. Ability to map user and groups from excel data with SharePoint user and groups
10. Turbo Mode for faster import when the target list is in SharePoint online site.

To get more insights on import data from excel to SharePoint list using Saketa Migrator, refer the documentation here.