ODBC data connections are used for enabling your PC to connect to SQL databases. This is most commonly used for Microsoft Excel documents with connections to databases.


If you are trying to update or refresh an excel document and getting an error similar to the following, you likely need to add an ODBC Connection.





Adding the connections



Step 1


Click Start and type ODBC, then click on 'ODBC Data sources (32-bit)' from the search results:



Step 2



On the window that pops up, be sure that the 'User DSN' tab is selected and click 'Add'.


In the 'Create New Data Source' window, scroll to the bottom of the list, select 'SQL Server' and click finish.




Step 3


On the next window, Type a name for the connection (see below list of ODBC connection names and databases).


Leave the Description field blank and in the server field type the corresponding server name to the connection name (see below list of ODBC connection names and databases).


Then click finish, then click OK.







List of ODBC Connection names and Databases


Name: SC42Prod

Server: M2-COL-DB05


Name: M2Service

Server: M2-COL-DB05


Name: CallistoOneStop

Server: M2-COL-DB05


Name: Sage 200

Server: M2-COL-DB04


Name: Customer Portal

Server: M2-COL-DB05




How to tell which connection you need


If you're not sure which connection you need to add, you can check in the spreadsheet what database(s) it's using.


Open up the spreadsheet and click on the 'DATA' tab. then click 'Connections'




A new window will open with any database connections listed. double click the connection and it will open a 'Connection properties' Window.


On this window click the Definition tab and in the 'Connection Sting' field you will see the name of the ODBC connection amongst the text, in this case it's SC42Prod.






* If you have completed this process and still get an error, please submit a ticket request using this link *