Isak Blomkvist
Yes, monday.com can be connected to Microsoft Excel. With the integration, a forecast calculated in Excel shows up on the CRM board, data for finance fills in the workbook they already use, and lists that are copied back and forth today move automatically. monday.com has its own Excel integration in the Integrations Center for the simplest flows, and importing and exporting Excel files is built in. Anything that needs to stay up to date in both directions is built in Make, against workbooks in Microsoft 365. This article covers what the integration does, how it is built and what to consider before you get started.
- The sales manager updates the forecast in a workbook on SharePoint
- The integration reads changed rows
- The forecast column on the CRM board is updated
The forecast model stays in Excel. The reps see the result in monday.com next to their deals.
- A deal reaches the quote stage
- An estimate is created from your Excel template with the deal details
- The file is added to the deal in monday.com
- The rep keeps working in Excel
The integration fills in what is already in the CRM, so the rep starts with the right customer, volumes and prices.
- Items are marked approved for invoicing
- A row is added to finance's table in Excel
- Finance gets the data in the format they already use
Finance does not have to learn monday.com. The rows land in their workbook, with the same columns as before.
- A project list in Excel needs to go into monday.com
- The columns are mapped to the board
- Router · Does the item already exist?YesIt is updatedNoIt is created
- The board is filled without manual entry
At launch or when switching systems, the integration or the built-in import moves the lists to the board, with a check for duplicates.
The flows above are only examples. Every integration is built around your process: which steps to include, what should happen in each situation and who is responsible for what.
Short answer
There are three levels. Built into monday.com, you can create a board from an Excel file and export a board to Excel, which is enough for one-time moves. monday.com's own Excel integration in the Integrations Center covers a few simple recipes against workbooks in Microsoft 365. For flows that need to stay up to date, look up the right row or work in both directions, the integration is built in Make, which has modules for monday.com and Microsoft 365 Excel. That is where we build most integrations. Common to every option except import and export is that the workbook needs to live in OneDrive or SharePoint, not on a local drive.
What the integration can do
Here are four common examples. Your integration can do more, less or something entirely different.
New items, status changes or changed values in monday.com become rows in a table in Excel, added or updated. Existing reports and pivot tables keep working, with fresh data.
Forecasts, budgets or prices calculated in Excel are written to columns in monday.com, so whoever works on the board sees them next to everything else.
When something happens in monday.com, a new workbook is created from your template, filled with the item's details and attached to the item, for example an estimate or a customer specification.
Lists in Excel become boards in monday.com, and boards can be exported to Excel when someone outside the system needs them. Built in for one-time moves, through Make when it needs to happen regularly.
Why connect monday.com and Microsoft Excel?
- The models can stay. Forecasts and estimates built up in Excel do not have to be rebuilt. The result shows in monday.com.
- Finance gets its format. Data lands in the workbook finance already works in, with the same columns as before.
- No more copying. Lists that move back and forth between Excel and the board are moved by the integration, without paste errors.
- One version of the truth. When the board and the workbook are updated by the same event, you do not have to ask which one is right.
How the integration is built
There are three ways to build it, and which one fits depends on how advanced the flow is.
| Option | Best when | Keep in mind |
|---|---|---|
| monday.com's Excel integration | Simple flows against a workbook in Microsoft 365, for example new rows becoming items on a board | Quick to get started with no third party, but the recipes are few and fixed, and the workbook must live in OneDrive or SharePoint |
| Make | Flows that look up the right row, update instead of append, work in both directions or create files from templates | Flexible, but requires a well-designed flow: data in Excel as a formatted table, matching between rows and items, and checks that the structure has not changed |
| Custom code against the Microsoft API | Large volumes, Excel files generated in your own environment or requirements the platforms cannot handle | The most flexible, but requires someone to own and maintain the code |
For most companies, Make is the right choice, but the platform is just the tool. What determines whether the integration holds up is how it is built: that the data in Excel sits in a formatted table so the integration finds the right rows, how rows and items are matched, how columns map in both directions, and what happens when someone adds a column or renames the sheet. An integration that writes to the wrong column after a reshuffle costs more than it saves. That is why we lock the structure of the workbook, build with logging and alerts from the start, and manage the integration as the way you work changes. Integrations in monday.com require a plan that includes integrations, and the workbook needs to live on a Microsoft 365 account the integration can access.
What to decide before you build
An integration is never better than the process it automates. These questions determine whether it works in practice:
- Who owns which data? Decide per column whether monday.com or Excel is the source. Two systems that are both allowed to write the same value will sooner or later give two different answers.
- Where does the workbook live? The integration requires OneDrive or SharePoint. Files sent by email or stored on a local drive cannot be connected.
- How are rows and items matched? The item ID from monday.com in its own column in the table is the safest choice. Names are not enough, since they change and get duplicated.
- What structure should the table have? The integration assumes the table and columns stay in place. Decide who is allowed to make changes, and protect the sheets the integration writes to.
- What happens when something goes wrong? A good flow logs every run and flags when a row could not be written, instead of silently skipping it.
When the workbook should be a dashboard
The Excel integration is often a first step. Many workbooks exist because someone needs to see numbers from monday.com in a way the board did not show, and then it is worth asking whether a dashboard in monday.com solves the same thing without an extra system. What leadership actually needs to see is covered in Dashboards leadership actually uses. What should stay in Excel is what Excel does best: models, scenarios and data for people who work outside monday.com. How we structure boards so they carry the reporting is described on monday work management. If you work in Google Workspace instead, there is a matching integration with Google Sheets, and in Microsoft 365 the integration often goes hand in hand with Outlook. All the integrations we build are listed under all integrations.
Straviont builds the integration
We are an official monday.com partner and certified CRM specialists with monday.com, and we build integrations between monday.com and Microsoft Excel in Make. We start with the process: who owns which data, where the workbook lives and how rows and items are matched. Only then is the flow built, with logging and error handling, and we manage it as the way you work changes.
Frequently asked questions
Can monday.com be connected to Microsoft Excel?
Yes. monday.com has its own Excel integration for simple flows and built-in import and export of Excel files. Flows that need to stay up to date or work in both directions are built in Make against workbooks in Microsoft 365, or with custom code against the Microsoft API.
Can monday.com write to Excel automatically?
Yes. When an item is created or a column changes in monday.com, the integration can add or update a row in a table in the workbook, so reports and pivot tables have fresh data.
Can changes in Excel update monday.com?
Yes. The integration can read new or changed rows in a table and write the values to columns in monday.com, for example forecast or budget. This requires that you have decided which system owns the data.
Does the workbook have to live in OneDrive or SharePoint?
Yes, for any integration that needs to stay up to date. Files on a local drive or in email can only be handled through the built-in import and export.
Can an Excel file be imported into monday.com without an integration?
Yes. monday.com can create a board from an Excel file and export a board to Excel. That is enough for one-time moves, but not for anything that needs to stay up to date.
What happens if someone changes the workbook?
The integration assumes the table and columns stay in place. That is why we protect the sheets the integration uses and build in checks that alert you if the structure has changed, instead of writing to the wrong column.
Next steps
Start by listing the workbooks that are filled in from monday.com by hand today, and which numbers should go back to the board. From there, building it goes quickly. If you want help, you can book a free mapping session and we will go through it together.