Paste MS Excel data to SQL Server

I have a bunch of rows in Excel that I want to paste into a new table in MS SQL. Is there a simple way ?

If you have SQL Server Management Studio, you can just Copy from Excel and Paste into the table in Management Studio, using your mouse. Just

1. Go to the table you want to paste into.
2. Select "Edit Top 200 Rows".
3. Right-click anywhere and select Paste.

Before you do this, you must match the columns between Excel and Management Studio. Also, you must place any non-editable columns last (right-most) using the Table Designer in Management Studio.

The whole procedure takes seconds (to set-up and start - not necessarily to execute) and doesn't require any SQL statements.

Regarding empty database tables and SSMS v18.1+.

I have used this technique successfully in the past:

Using Excel to generate Inserts for SQL Server

> (...) Skip a column (or use it for notes) and then type something like the > following formula in it: > > ="insert into tblyourtablename (yourkeyID_pk, intmine, strval) values ("&A4&", "&B4&", N'"&C4&"')" > > Now you’ve got your insert statement for > a table with your primary key (PK), an integer and a unicode string. (...)

Excel

1. In Excel, highlight and copy the data you want to paste into SQL.

SQL

2. Create the table with the desired column names and give you table a name. *Make sure Identity Specification is Yes, so it will auto increment your Identity column.
3. Find your table, and right click on it and choose Edit Top 200 Rows from the dialog-box.
4. Right click on the empty row with the * sign and select paste from the dialog-box

For future references:

You can copy-paste data from en excel-sheet to an SQL-table by doing so:

1. Select the data in Excel and press Ctrl + C
2. In SQL Server Management Studio right click the table and choose Edit Top 200 Rows
3. Scroll to the bottom and select the entire empty row by clicking on the row header
4. Paste the data by pressing Ctrl + V

Note: Often tables have a first column which is an ID-column with an auto generated/incremented ID. When you paste your data it will start inserting the leftmost selected column in Excel into the leftmost column in SSMS thus inserting data into the ID-column. To avoid that keep an empty column at the leftmost part of your selection in order to skip that column in SSMS. That will result in SSMS inserting the default data which is the auto generated ID. Furthermore you can skip other columns by having empty columns at the same ordinal positions in the Excel sheet selection as those columns to be skipped. That will make SSMS insert the default value (or NULL where no default value is specified).

I have developed an Excel VBA Macro for cutting and pasting any selection from Excel into SQL Server, creating a new table. The macro is great for quick and dirty table creations up to a few thousand rows and multiple columns (It can theoretically manage up to 200 columns). The macro attempts to automatically detect header names and assign the most appropriate datatype to each column (it handles varchar columns upto 1000 chars).

Recommended Setup procedure:

1. Make sure Excel is enabled to run macros. (File->Options->Trust Center->Trust Center Settings->Macro Settings->Enable all macros..)
2. Copy the VBA code below to the module associated with your personal workbook (So that the Macro will be available for all worksheets)
3. Assign an appropriate keystroke to the macro ( I have assigned Ctrl Shift X)
4. Save your personal workbook

Use of Macro

1. Select the cells in Excel (including column headers if they exist) to be transferred to SQL
2. Press the assigned keyword combination that you have assigned to run the macro
3. Follow the prompts. (Default table name is ##Table)
4. Paste the clipboard contents into a SSMS window and run the generated SQL code. BriFri 238

VBA Code:

Sub TransferToSQL()
'
' TransferToSQL Macro
' This macro prepares data for pasting into SQL Server and posts it to the clipboard for inserting into SSMS
' It attempts to automatically detect header rows and does a basic analysis of the first 15 rows to determine the most appropriate datatype to use handling text entries upto 1000 chars.
'
' Max Number of Columns: 200
'
' Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+X
'
' ver   Date    Reason
' ===   ====    ======

' 1.6   06/2012 Fixed bug that prevented auto exit if no selection made / auto exit if blank Tablename entered or 'cancel' button pressed
' 1.5   02/2012 made use of function fn_ColLetter to retrieve the Column Letter for a specified column
' 1.4   02/2012 Replaces any Tabs in text data to spaces to prevent Double quotes being output in final results
' 1.3   02/2012 Place the 'drop table if already exists' code into a separate batch to prevent errors when inserting new table with same name but different shape and > 100 rows
' 1.2   01/2012 If null dates encountered code to cast it as Null rather than '00-Jan-1900'
' 1.1   10/2011 Code to drop the table if already exists
' 1.0   03/2011 Created

Dim intLastRow As Long
Dim intlastColumn As Integer
Dim intRow As Long
Dim intDataStartRow As Long
Dim intColumn As Integer
Dim strKeyWord As String
Dim intPos As Integer
Dim strDataTypeLevel(4) As String
Dim strColumnHeader(200) As String
Dim strDataType(200) As String
Dim intRowCheck As Integer
Dim strFormula(20) As String
Dim intHasHeaderRow As Integer
Dim strCellRef As String
Dim intFormulaCount As Integer
Dim strSQLTableName As String
Dim strSQLTableName_Encap As String
Dim intdataTypelevel As Integer
Const strConstHeaderKeyword As String = "ID,URN,name,Title,Job,Company,Contact,Address,Post,Town,Email,Tele,phone,Area,Region,Business,Total,Month,Week,Year,"
Const intConstMaxBatchSize As Integer = 100
    Const intConstNumberRowsToAnalyse As Integer = 100
intHasHeaderRow = 0

strDataTypeLevel(1) = "VARCHAR(1000)"
strDataTypeLevel(2) = "FLOAT"
strDataTypeLevel(3) = "INTEGER"
strDataTypeLevel(4) = "DATETIME"



' Use current selection and paste to new temp worksheet

    Selection.Copy
    Workbooks.Add       ' add temp 'Working' Workbook
    ' Paste "Values Only" back into new temp workbook
    Range("A3").Select  ' Goto 3rd Row
    Selection.PasteSpecial Paste:=xlFormats, Operation:=xlNone, SkipBlanks:=False, Transpose:=False ' Copy Format of Selection
    Selection.PasteSpecial Paste:=xlValues, Operation:=xlNone, SkipBlanks:=False, Transpose:=False  ' Copy Values of Selection
    ActiveCell.SpecialCells(xlLastCell).Select  ' Goto last cell
    intLastRow = ActiveCell.Row
    intlastColumn = ActiveCell.Column


' Check to make sure that there are cells which are selected
If intLastRow = 3 And intlastColumn = 1 Then
    Application.DisplayAlerts = False       ' Temporarily switch off Display Alerts
    ActiveWindow.Close                      ' Delete newly created worksheet
    Application.DisplayAlerts = True        ' Switch display alerts back on
    MsgBox "*** Please Make selection before running macro - Terminating ***", vbOKOnly, "Transfer Data to SQL Server"
    Exit Sub
End If

' Prompt user for Name of SQL Server table
strSQLTableName = InputBox("SQL Server Table Name?", "Transfer Excel Data To SQL", "##Table")

' if blank table name entered or 'Cancel' selected then exit
If strSQLTableName = "" Then
    Application.DisplayAlerts = False       ' Temporarily switch off Display Alerts
    ActiveWindow.Close                      ' Delete newly created worksheet
    Application.DisplayAlerts = True        ' Switch display alerts back on
    Exit Sub
End If



' encapsulate tablename with square brackets if user has not already done so
strSQLTableName_Encap = Replace(Replace(Replace("[" & Replace(strSQLTableName, ".", "].[") & "]", "[]", ""), "[[", "["), "]]", "]")

' Try to determine if the First Row is a header row or contains data and if a header load names of Columns
Range("A3").Select
For intColumn = 1 To intlastColumn
    ' first check to see if the first row contains any pure numbers or pure dates
    If IsNumeric(ActiveCell.Value) Or IsDate(ActiveCell.Value) Then
	intHasHeaderRow = vbNo
	intDataStartRow = 3
	Exit For
    Else
	strColumnHeader(intColumn) = ActiveCell.Value
	ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Range("A1").Select  ' go to the row below
	If IsNumeric(ActiveCell.Value) Or IsDate(ActiveCell.Value) Then
	    intHasHeaderRow = vbYes
	    intDataStartRow = 4
	End If
	ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 0).Range("A1").Select  ' go back up to the first row
	If intHasHeaderRow = 0 Then     ' if still not determined if header exists: Look for header using keywords
	    intPos = 1
	    While intPos < Len(strConstHeaderKeyword) And intHasHeaderRow = 0
		strKeyWord = Mid$(strConstHeaderKeyword, intPos, InStr(intPos, strConstHeaderKeyword, ",") - intPos)
		If InStr(1, ActiveCell.Value, strKeyWord) > 0 Then
		    intHasHeaderRow = vbYes
		    intDataStartRow = 4
		End If
		intPos = InStr(intPos, strConstHeaderKeyword, ",") + 1
	    Wend
	End If
    End If
    ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Range("A1").Select  ' Goto next column
Next intColumn

' If auto header row detection has failed ask the user to manually select
If intHasHeaderRow = 0 Then
    intHasHeaderRow = MsgBox("Does current selection have a header row?", vbYesNo, "Auto header row detection failure")
    If intHasHeaderRow = vbYes Then
	intDataStartRow = 4
    Else
	intDataStartRow = 3
    End If

End If




' *** Determine the Data Type of each Column ***

' Go thru each Column to find Data types
If intLastRow < intConstNumberRowsToAnalyse  Then             ' Check the first intConstNumberRowsToAnalyse  rows or to end of selection whichever is less
    intRowCheck = intLastRow
Else
    intRowCheck = intConstNumberRowsToAnalyse 
End If

For intColumn = 1 To intlastColumn
    intdataTypelevel = 5

    For intRow = intDataStartRow To intRowCheck
	Application.Goto Reference:="R" & CStr(intRow) & "C" & CStr(intColumn)
	If ActiveCell.Value = "" Then   ' ignore blank (null) values
	ElseIf IsDate(ActiveCell.Value) = True And Len(ActiveCell.Value) >= 8 Then
	    If intdataTypelevel > 4 Then intdataTypelevel = 4
	ElseIf IsNumeric(ActiveCell.Value) = True And InStr(1, CStr(ActiveCell.Value), ".") = 0 And (Left(CStr(ActiveCell.Value), 1) <> "0" Or ActiveCell.Value = "0") And Len(ActiveCell.Value) < 10 Then
	    If intdataTypelevel > 3 Then intdataTypelevel = 3
	ElseIf IsNumeric(ActiveCell.Value) = True And InStr(1, CStr(ActiveCell.Value), ".") >= 1 Then
	    If intdataTypelevel > 2 Then intdataTypelevel = 2
	Else
	    intdataTypelevel = 1
	    Exit For
	End If
    Next intRow
    If intdataTypelevel = 5 Then intdataTypelevel = 1
    strDataType(intColumn) = strDataTypeLevel(intdataTypelevel)
Next intColumn


' *** Build up the SQL
intFormulaCount = 1
If intHasHeaderRow = vbYes Then     ' *** Header Row ***
    Application.Goto Reference:="R4" & "C" & CStr(intlastColumn + 1)    ' Goto next column in first data row of selection
    strFormula(intFormulaCount) = "= ""SELECT "
    For intColumn = 1 To intlastColumn
	If strDataType(intColumn) = "DATETIME" Then         ' Code to take Excel Dates back to text
	    strCellRef = "Text(" & fn_ColLetter(intColumn) & "4,""dd-mmm-yyyy hh:mm:ss"")"
	ElseIf strDataType(intColumn) = "VARCHAR(1000)" Then
	    strCellRef = "SUBSTITUTE(" & fn_ColLetter(intColumn) & "4,""'"",""''"")" ' Convert any single ' to double ''
	Else
	    strCellRef = fn_ColLetter(intColumn) & "4"
	End If


	strFormula(intFormulaCount) = strFormula(intFormulaCount) & "CAST('""& " & strCellRef & " & ""' AS " & strDataType(intColumn) & ") AS [" & strColumnHeader(intColumn) & "]"
	If intColumn < intlastColumn Then
	    strFormula(intFormulaCount) = strFormula(intFormulaCount) + ", "
	Else
	    strFormula(intFormulaCount) = strFormula(intFormulaCount) + " UNION ALL """
	End If
	' since each cell can only hold a maximum no. of chars if Formula string gets too big continue formula in adjacent cell
	If Len(strFormula(intFormulaCount)) > 700 And intColumn < intlastColumn Then
	    strFormula(intFormulaCount) = strFormula(intFormulaCount) + """"
	    intFormulaCount = intFormulaCount + 1
	    strFormula(intFormulaCount) = "= """
	End If
    Next intColumn

 ' Assign the formula to the cell(s) just right of the selection
    For intColumn = 1 To intFormulaCount
	ActiveCell.Value = strFormula(intColumn)
	If intColumn < intFormulaCount Then ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Range("A1").Select  ' Goto next column
    Next intColumn


 ' Auto Fill the formula for the full length of the selection
    ActiveCell.Offset(0, -intFormulaCount + 1).Range("A1:" & fn_ColLetter(intFormulaCount) & "1").Select
    If intLastRow > 4 Then Selection.AutoFill Destination:=Range(fn_ColLetter(intlastColumn + 1) & "4:" & fn_ColLetter(intlastColumn + intFormulaCount) & CStr(intLastRow)), Type:=xlFillDefault

 ' Go to start row of data selection to add 'Select into' code
   ActiveCell.Value = "SELECT * INTO " & strSQLTableName_Encap & " FROM (" & ActiveCell.Value

 ' Go to cells above data to insert code for deleting old table with the same name in separate SQL batch
   ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 0).Range("A1").Select  ' go to the row above
   ActiveCell.Value = "GO"
   ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 0).Range("A1").Select  ' go to the row above
   If Left(strSQLTableName, 1) = "#" Then      ' temp table
       ActiveCell.Value = "IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb.." & strSQLTableName & "') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE " & strSQLTableName_Encap
   Else
       ActiveCell.Value = "IF OBJECT_ID('" & strSQLTableName & "') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE " & strSQLTableName_Encap
   End If



' For Big selections (i.e. several 100 or 1000 rows) SQL Server takes a very long time to do a multiple union - Split up the table creation into many inserts
    intRow = intConstMaxBatchSize + 4   ' add 4 to make sure 1st batch = Max Batch Size
    While intRow < intLastRow
	Application.Goto Reference:="R" & CStr(intRow - 1) & "C" & CStr(intlastColumn + intFormulaCount)  ' Goto Row before intRow and the last column in formula selection
	ActiveCell.Value = Replace(ActiveCell.Value, " UNION ALL ", " ) a") ' Remove last 'UNION ALL'

	Application.Goto Reference:="R" & CStr(intRow) & "C" & CStr(intlastColumn + 1)    ' Goto intRow and the first column in formula selection
	ActiveCell.Value = "INSERT " & strSQLTableName_Encap & " SELECT * FROM (" & ActiveCell.Value
	intRow = intRow + intConstMaxBatchSize   ' increment intRow by intConstMaxBatchSize
    Wend


    ' Delete the last 'UNION AlL' replacing it with brackets to mark the end of the last insert
    Application.Goto Reference:="R" & CStr(intLastRow) & "C" & CStr(intlastColumn + intFormulaCount)
    ActiveCell.Value = Replace(ActiveCell.Value, " UNION ALL ", " ) a")

    ' Select all the formula cells
    ActiveCell.Offset(-intLastRow + 2, 1 - intFormulaCount).Range("A1:" & fn_ColLetter(intFormulaCount + 1) & CStr(intLastRow - 1)).Select
Else    ' *** No Header Row ***
    Application.Goto Reference:="R3" & "C" & CStr(intlastColumn + 1)    ' Goto next column in first data row of selection
    strFormula(intFormulaCount) = "= ""SELECT "

    For intColumn = 1 To intlastColumn
	If strDataType(intColumn) = "DATETIME" Then
	    strCellRef = "Text(" & fn_ColLetter(intColumn) & "3,""dd-mmm-yyyy hh:mm:ss"")"   ' Format Excel dates into a text Date format that SQL will pick up
	ElseIf strDataType(intColumn) = "VARCHAR(1000)" Then
	    strCellRef = "SUBSTITUTE(" & fn_ColLetter(intColumn) & "3,""'"",""''"")"         ' Change all single ' to double ''
	Else
	    strCellRef = fn_ColLetter(intColumn) & "3"
	End If

	' Since no column headers: Name each column "Column001",Column002"..
	strFormula(intFormulaCount) = strFormula(intFormulaCount) & "CAST('""& " & strCellRef & " & ""' AS " & strDataType(intColumn) & ") AS [Column" & CStr(intColumn) & "]"
	If intColumn < intlastColumn Then
	    strFormula(intFormulaCount) = strFormula(intFormulaCount) + ", "
	Else
	    strFormula(intFormulaCount) = strFormula(intFormulaCount) + " UNION ALL """
	End If

	' since each cell can only hold a maximum no. of chars if Formula string gets too big continue formula in adjacent cell
	If Len(strFormula(intFormulaCount)) > 700 And intColumn < intlastColumn Then
	    strFormula(intFormulaCount) = strFormula(intFormulaCount) + """"
	    intFormulaCount = intFormulaCount + 1
	    strFormula(intFormulaCount) = "= """
	End If
    Next intColumn

    ' Assign the formula to the cell(s) just right of the selection
    For intColumn = 1 To intFormulaCount
	ActiveCell.Value = strFormula(intColumn)
	If intColumn < intFormulaCount Then ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Range("A1").Select  ' Goto next column
    Next intColumn

 ' Auto Fill the formula for the full length of the selection
    ActiveCell.Offset(0, -intFormulaCount + 1).Range("A1:" & fn_ColLetter(intFormulaCount) & "1").Select
    If intLastRow > 4 Then Selection.AutoFill Destination:=Range(fn_ColLetter(intlastColumn + 1) & "3:" & fn_ColLetter(intlastColumn + intFormulaCount) & CStr(intLastRow)), Type:=xlFillDefault

 ' Go to start row of data selection to add 'Select into' code
   ActiveCell.Value = "SELECT * INTO " & strSQLTableName_Encap & " FROM (" & ActiveCell.Value

 ' Go to cells above data to insert code for deleting old table with the same name in separate SQL batch
   ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 0).Range("A1").Select  ' go to the row above
   ActiveCell.Value = "GO"
   ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 0).Range("A1").Select  ' go to the row above
   If Left(strSQLTableName, 1) = "#" Then      ' temp table
       ActiveCell.Value = "IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb.." & strSQLTableName & "') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE " & strSQLTableName_Encap
   Else
       ActiveCell.Value = "IF OBJECT_ID('" & strSQLTableName & "') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE " & strSQLTableName_Encap
   End If

  ' For Big selections (i.e. serveral 100 or 1000 rows) SQL Server takes a very long time to do a multiple union - Split up the table creation into many inserts
   intRow = intConstMaxBatchSize + 3        ' add 3 to make sure 1st batch = Max Batch Size
    While intRow < intLastRow
	Application.Goto Reference:="R" & CStr(intRow - 1) & "C" & CStr(intlastColumn + intFormulaCount)  ' Goto Row before intRow and the last column in formula selection
	ActiveCell.Value = Replace(ActiveCell.Value, " UNION ALL ", " ) a") ' Remove last 'UNION ALL'

	Application.Goto Reference:="R" & CStr(intRow) & "C" & CStr(intlastColumn + 1)    ' Goto intRow and the first column in formula selection
	ActiveCell.Value = "INSERT " & strSQLTableName_Encap & " SELECT * FROM (" & ActiveCell.Value
	intRow = intRow + intConstMaxBatchSize   ' increment intRow by intConstMaxBatchSize
    Wend

    ' Delete the last 'UNION AlL'
    Application.Goto Reference:="R" & CStr(intLastRow) & "C" & CStr(intlastColumn + intFormulaCount)
    ActiveCell.Value = Replace(ActiveCell.Value, " UNION ALL ", " ) a")

    ' Select all the formula cells
    ActiveCell.Offset(-intLastRow + 1, 1 - intFormulaCount).Range("A1:" & fn_ColLetter(intFormulaCount + 1) & CStr(intLastRow)).Select
End If


' Final Selection to clipboard and Cleaning of data
Selection.Copy
Selection.PasteSpecial Paste:=xlValues, Operation:=xlNone, SkipBlanks:=False, Transpose:=False              ' Repaste "Values Only" back into cells
Selection.Replace What:="CAST('' AS", Replacement:="CAST(NULL AS", LookAt:=xlPart, SearchOrder:=xlByRows, MatchCase:=False  ' convert all blank cells to NULL
Selection.Replace What:="'00-Jan-1900 00:00:00'", Replacement:="NULL", LookAt:=xlPart, SearchOrder:=xlByRows, MatchCase:=False  ' convert all blank Date cells to NULL
Selection.Replace What:="'NULL'", Replacement:="NULL", LookAt:=xlPart, SearchOrder:=xlByRows, MatchCase:=False  ' convert all 'NULL' cells to NULL
Selection.Replace What:=vbTab, Replacement:=" ", LookAt:=xlPart, SearchOrder:=xlByRows, MatchCase:=False        ' Replace all Tabs in cells to Space to prevent Double Quotes occuring in the final paste text
Selection.Copy


MsgBox "SQL Code has been added to clipboard - Please Paste into SSMS window", vbOKOnly, "Transfer to SQL"

Application.DisplayAlerts = False       ' Temporarily switch off Display Alerts
ActiveWindow.Close                      ' Delete newly created worksheet
Application.DisplayAlerts = True        ' Switch display alerts back on



End Sub




Function fn_ColLetter(Col As Integer) As String

Dim strColLetter As String

If Col > 26 Then
    ' double letter columns
    strColLetter = Chr(Int((Col - 1) / 26) + 64) & _
	    Chr(((Col - 1) Mod 26) + 65)
Else
    ' single letter columns
    strColLetter = Chr(Col + 64)
End If
fn_ColLetter = strColLetter
End Function

The simplest way is to create a computed column in XLS that would generate the syntax of the insert statement. Then copy these insert into a text file and then execute on the SQL. The other alternatives are to buy database connectivity add-on's for Excel and write VBA code to accomplish the same.

I'd think some datbases can import data from CSV (comma separated values) files, wich you can export from exel. Or at least it's quite easy to use a csv parser (find one for your language, don't try to create one yourself - it's harder than it looks) to import it to the database.

I'm not familiar with MS SQL but it wouldn't suprise me if it does support it directly.

In any case I think the requrement must be that the structure in the Exel sheet and the database table is similar.

If the interface works the way it did last I used it, you can select the region in Excel, copy it, open SQL Server and paste the data into the table as you would with Access.

Or you could setup an ODBC link between Excel and SQL Server.

why not just use export/import wizard in SSMS?

Can't you use VBA code to do the copy from excel and paste into SSMS operations?