How to Connect MariaDB to Excel – Stream Live Database Data

Connect · MariaDB to Excel

Get data from MariaDB into Excel

Pull live rows from your MariaDB database into Excel and refresh them whenever you like. No ODBC driver, no exports, no macros. About ten minutes the first time, and the Free plan covers it.

About 10 minutes No coding needed Data stays on your network Excel anywhere, even on the web

What you’ll end up with

A worksheet showing the live results of a SQL query against your MariaDB database, with a button that pulls the latest rows whenever the data changes. Like this:

Sales.xlsx — Excel

HomeInsertDataQuery Streams

	A	B	C	D	E
1	customer_id	first_name	last_name	country	total
2	1042	Maria	Alvarez	USA	1,284.50
3	1043	Daniel	Okafor	USA	612.00
4	1047	Priya	Nair	USA	2,090.75
5	1051	Thomas	Berg	USA	338.20
6	1056	Lucía	Ferreira	USA	1,455.00
7	1060	Kenji	Sato	USA	874.10
8

Sheet1 Live from MariaDB

MariaDB holds your data on a server you or your team run. Getting it into Excel usually means drivers, connection strings, or exports that go stale the moment they land. Query Streams skips that: a small helper program called the Agent runs the query where your data is, and an Excel add-in asks it for the rows you want. Only the results travel, over an encrypted link, and Excel can be anywhere: your laptop at home, a colleague’s machine across the country, or Excel on the web.

What you’ll need

A Query Streams account

The Free plan is enough for this guide. Sign up at my.querystreams.com.

The Agent on a computer that can reach the server

A small program that runs in the background and queries the database when Excel asks. Often the database server itself, or any always-on computer on the same network.

Your MariaDB connection details

The server name, the database name, and a username and password that can read it. If someone else manages the database, this is the bit to ask them for.

Connect it in five steps

1. Create your account

   Go to my.querystreams.com and sign up. Pick the Free plan. It is a real plan, not a trial, and it covers connecting your MariaDB database and running queries from Excel.

2. Install the Agent on a computer that can reach the server

   Sign in, open Download, and install the Agent on a machine that can already reach your MariaDB database: often the database server itself, or any always-on computer on the same network. It takes a minute and starts on its own from then on.

   Why a small program instead of a driver? The Agent is one install for Windows, Mac or Linux (about 85 MB on Windows, a little over 100 MB on Mac and Linux) that runs quietly in the background. It makes one outbound, encrypted connection to Query Streams, the same way a browser does, so you open no firewall port and set up no VPN. Your database stays on your network, and the rows travel to wherever you are, across the internet if need be. The only thing on your side is the add-in.

   The Download page shows Your Access Key. Paste it into the Agent when it asks, and wait for the badge to read Connected to Query Streams. That is the only thing you do on the Agent itself.

   Full walkthroughs if you want them: Windows, Mac, Linux.

3. Point it at your MariaDB database

   Back in your browser, open Data Agents (under Data in the top menu). Your Agent is listed there. Click Add connector, choose MariaDB, and fill in the details you gathered earlier:

   Connection name

   Any name you will recognise later, like Sales database.

   Host

   The server’s name or IP address, like 192.168.1.1, or localhost when the Agent runs on the database’s own computer.

   Port

   Starts at 3306; leave it unless your admin changed the port MariaDB listens on.

   Username

   A database login that can read your data. The box starts empty; a read-only login is safest.

   Password

   The password for that login.

   Click Test connection. When it reads Connected (or Signed in), click Next. The next screen, Which databases do you want to work with?, lists the databases this login can see: tick yours. No list? Type the name under Type a database name and click Verify. Then click Next through Data realm and finish with Create connector. The connection reaches your Agent within a few seconds.

   Open Data Agents

   Test failed? Usually the server name or a firewall between the Agent’s computer and the database. Try the same details from that computer with your usual database tool; if that fails, the Agent will too.

4. See your data in Query Builder Optional

   You can look at your MariaDB database before Excel is involved at all. Open Query Builder in the portal and pick the connection you just made. The Schema tab lists your tables and columns, and clicking one puts its name in the editor, so you can write a query without remembering exact names. Click Run and the rows appear under Results. Query Builder is on every plan, Free included.

   On Business plans you can also ask Nova in plain English (“show me customers in the USA”) and it writes the SQL for you. When the query looks right, save it: from Personal Core up it shows in the add-in’s Saved Queries list, and on any plan you can copy the SQL into the next step.

5. Add Query Streams to Excel

   In Excel, go to Insert → Get Add-ins, search for Query Streams, and click Add. Or open it straight from Query Streams on Microsoft AppSource. A Query Streams button appears on the ribbon. Sign in with the same account.

   Works in Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows and Mac, and in Excel on the web.

6. Pull in your first table

   Click the Query Streams button, choose Stream a Query, and pick the connection you just made.

   Type the query you want to run. This one pulls a few columns from a customers table:

   Example · SQL

   SELECT customer_id, name, city
   FROM customers
   ORDER BY name
   LIMIT 100;

   Under Destination Sheet choose Create a new sheet, then press the play button (the ▶ arrow). The rows land in Excel in a second or two. Press it again any time the data has changed and the sheet updates in place.

   Don’t know SQL? Build it in Query Builder first and paste it here, or pick it from Saved Queries if you saved it.

Good next moves

• Save the query in the portal so you can run it again with one click, from Excel or Google Sheets.
• Add a filter such as a date range, so the same query can answer “this month” without editing.
• Share the results with a colleague. They see the rows, not your credentials.

Questions people ask

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