How to Connect Microsoft Access to Excel – Stream Live Database Data

Connect · Access to Excel

Get data from an Access file into Excel

Open your Access database in Excel and refresh it whenever you like. No ODBC driver, no exporting to CSV, no macros. About ten minutes the first time, and the Free plan covers it.

About 10 minutes No coding needed File stays where it is Excel anywhere, even on the web

What you’ll end up with

A worksheet showing the live results of a SQL query against your Access file, 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 orders.accdb

Microsoft Access databases are single files, usually ending in .accdb, .mdb. Excel can’t open them on its own, and the usual workaround means installing an ODBC driver and fighting with connection strings. Query Streams skips that: a small helper program reads the file where it already sits, and an Excel add-in asks it for the rows you want. The two do not need to be on the same computer. The file can be on the office computer and you 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 open the file

A small program that runs in the background and reads the file when Excel asks. Step 2 below shows where to get it.

Your Access file

Know where it is, for example C:\Data\orders.accdb or \\server\share\orders.accdb. If it lives in OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Drive, make sure it is synced to the Agent’s computer.

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 Access file and running queries from Excel.

2. Install the Agent on a computer that can open the file

   Sign in, open Download, and install the Agent for your system on the computer where the file is, or on one that can open it from a network share. 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. The file stays where it is, 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 Access file

   Back in your browser, open Data Agents (under Data in the top menu). Your Agent is listed there. Click Add connector, choose Microsoft Access, and fill in:

   One thing to check first. The Agent’s computer needs Microsoft’s free 64-bit Access Database Engine. The Portal checks for it the moment you pick Microsoft Access and shows a Download the engine button if it is missing. If that computer has 32-bit Office, do not install the engine there: If the computer has 32-bit Office. File on another computer? See Reaching a file on a network share below.

   Connection name

   Any name you will recognise later, like Sales database.

   Database File Path

   Where the Access file (.accdb or .mdb) is: a path on the Agent’s computer, like C:\Data\orders.accdb, or a network path, like \\server\share\folder\orders.accdb, never a mapped drive letter such as S:. Use Browse to pick it.

   Click Test connection. When it reads Connected, click Save. The connection reaches your Agent within a few seconds.

   Open Data Agents

   Test failed? Usually the database engine is not installed (the banner above the form says so), the path uses a mapped drive letter such as S: that the Agent service cannot see (type \\server\share\folder\file.accdb instead), or the path has a typo. A share that turns the Agent away is covered under Test failed on a share? below. Every test message and its fix.

4. See your data in Query Builder Optional

   You can look at your Access file 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 TOP 100 CustomerID, CompanyName, City
   FROM Customers
   ORDER BY CompanyName;

   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.

Reaching a file on a network share

If the test cannot get to the share, look for these words in its result: unreachable means the Agent’s computer got no answer from the server.

Test failed on a share?

A Windows Agent signs in to the file server itself, so its test result can also say:

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 file and not your file path.

Questions people ask

Related guides

• Microsoft Access to Google Sheets
• SQLite to Microsoft Excel
• DuckDB to Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft SQL Server to Microsoft Excel
• Running SQL in Excel
• All guides