Mashup with External Data in Zoho Sheet

Zoho Sheet has this “Link External Data” functionality, which can be used to mashup with data on the web. It can sync your Zoho spreadsheet with data in public CSV files, HTML tables and RSS feeds. Zoho Sheet will basically fetch data periodically from the configured URL and update the spreadsheet automatically. You can then analyze on the external data by applying formulas or drawing charts. You can also publish / embed the resultant chart or a specific range or the whole spreadsheet. It gives you ample possibilities to mashup data from the web. A word of caution: While fetching data periodically from external websites, especially HTML pages, make sure you agree to the terms and conditions of the website.

Here is a short presentation which walks you through the various steps involved in configuring External Data in Zoho Sheet. It takes an example of automatic import of data from a public Zoho Creator view. The same can be done on a private Zoho Creator view by enabling private permalinks in Zoho Creator.

(view the presentation in full screen for better clarity)

Are you using this feature already? If so, let us know how you are using it.

Comments

28 Replies to Mashup with External Data in Zoho Sheet

  1. This is a very good feature. Much better than what google spreadsheet offers. The differentiating factor is that zoho allows auto-update and also gives options for time intervals. Google docs does not.

  2. This is a very good feature. Much better than what google spreadsheet offers. The differentiating factor is that zoho allows auto-update and also gives options for time intervals. Google docs does not.

  3. @cic_reporter: ZohoSheet will fetch data only from public links. But in your case you might have used the csv feed from your reports database which is a authenticated url(ticket parameter). Once you signout from zoho the ticket you have passed become invalid and the csv feed url too. So the import of the CloudSQL URL will not work.Zohoreports team is working on providing public perma link for CSV feed, once this feature is available you can achieve this. Till then please bear with us.regards,
    Vaseeekaran

  4. @cic_reporter: ZohoSheet will fetch data only from public links. But in your case you might have used the csv feed from your reports database which is a authenticated url(ticket parameter). Once you signout from zoho the ticket you have passed become invalid and the csv feed url too. So the import of the CloudSQL URL will not work.Zohoreports team is working on providing public perma link for CSV feed, once this feature is available you can achieve this. Till then please bear with us.regards,
    Vaseeekaran

  5. How do you pull data from Zoho Analytics into Zoho Sheet. I'm trying Zoho CloudSQL creating a CSV file/feed from my Reports Database, but the "Link External Data" in Sheet will not import from the CloudSQL URL.

  6. How do you pull data from Zoho Analytics into Zoho Sheet. I'm trying Zoho CloudSQL creating a CSV file/feed from my Reports Database, but the "Link External Data" in Sheet will not import from the CloudSQL URL.

  7. @dakshjuneja: With Zoho Sheet, you can fetch tables from webpages into Zoho Sheet using the "External Data" feature. So if the website contains multiple tables, and if you want to pick up a particular table, you can do it while configuring the External Data. If you are not able to get it working, kindly email us the website link and the data that you want to support@zohosheet.com.

  8. @dakshjuneja: With Zoho Sheet, you can fetch tables from webpages into Zoho Sheet using the "External Data" feature. So if the website contains multiple tables, and if you want to pick up a particular table, you can do it while configuring the External Data. If you are not able to get it working, kindly email us the website link and the data that you want to support@zohosheet.com.

  9. There is something I don't understand with this. I have a csv import but when information is updated from the CSV site the embedded chart does not update. Indeed, I actually have to log in to my Zoho sheet to see any changes. It does not help if the embedded chart is static or that the update only happens when I log in.

  10. There is something I don't understand with this. I have a csv import but when information is updated from the CSV site the embedded chart does not update. Indeed, I actually have to log in to my Zoho sheet to see any changes. It does not help if the embedded chart is static or that the update only happens when I log in.

  11. Hi Logansan,We do have some limitation in our html parsing technique. We do consider/show only the inner most tables (if a table lies with in a table, parent table will be left out) and also we do consider only the tables with more than one row.These two criteria are reason for the issue in your case as few tables have inner table and few have only one row. We will enhance our parser in future to handle these scenarios.regards,
    Vaseekaran

  12. Hi Logansan,We do have some limitation in our html parsing technique. We do consider/show only the inner most tables (if a table lies with in a table, parent table will be left out) and also we do consider only the tables with more than one row.These two criteria are reason for the issue in your case as few tables have inner table and few have only one row. We will enhance our parser in future to handle these scenarios.regards,
    Vaseekaran

  13. Hi, have you had any luck with updating the HTML parser on this?It doesn't grab the table data very well.
    Awesome feature tho, and will be massive step once the kinks are ironed out.Cheers,
    LO

  14. Hi, have you had any luck with updating the HTML parser on this?It doesn't grab the table data very well.
    Awesome feature tho, and will be massive step once the kinks are ironed out.Cheers,
    LO

  15. Hi Sharon, Currently it doesn't store all the old data from an RSS feed. It will always replace the old listings. Basically it will replace the old data with whatever is present in the RSS feed XML at that point of time.

  16. Hi Sharon, Currently it doesn't store all the old data from an RSS feed. It will always replace the old listings. Basically it will replace the old data with whatever is present in the RSS feed XML at that point of time.

  17. Is there a way for the spreadsheet to store all the old data from, say, an RSS feed as well as pull in the new data? Or will the new RSS information always replace the old listings?

  18. Is there a way for the spreadsheet to store all the old data from, say, an RSS feed as well as pull in the new data? Or will the new RSS information always replace the old listings?

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