How to Transfer Excel Data to MySQL

Microsoft Excel is used for data entry in a lot of places, and moving data from Excel into a MySQL table (where a database server can put the information out on the web or make it available for other applications) is a common data transfer task. Fortunately, it's straightforward.

Instructions

1

Open the Excel file with the data you want to transfer to MySQL.

2

Ensure that the data headers and columns are in the right places to correspond with the fields of the MySQL table you intend to populate.

3

Click on the "Office" button in Excel 2007, or click on the "File" menu item in Excel 2003 or earlier.

4

Select "Save As."

5

Select "Comma Separated Values" for the file format, and save the file in a directory that your MySQL server can access.

6

Log into your MySQL server, and launch the MySQL access panel. Implementations differ and configuration values differ from server to server; if you do not know how to launch the MySQL tools on your server, consult with your server administrator.

7

Type the following commands into MySQL, without the quotes. Be sure to replace "Filename" with the name of your actual file. Hit the "Return" key after each command:

"load data local infile 'Filename.csv' into table tblFilename"

"fields terminated by ','"

"enclosed by '"' "

"lines terminated by '\n'"