> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cubed3-claude-gallant-ramanujan-an09zv.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Cube for Excel
> Cube for Excel is the native Microsoft Excel add-in for Cube Cloud.
it works with Excel on all operating systems,
including macOS, and all platforms, including web and mobile. It doesn't integrate
with the native [PivotTable][link-pivottable] in Excel but provides a custom
[pivot table](#create-explorations-via-pivot-table) UI.
Available on [Enterprise plan](https://cube.dev/pricing).
After [configuring](#configuration), [installing](#installation), and
[authenticating](#authentication) this add-in, you will be able to [create
explorations via pivot table](#create-explorations-via-pivot-table) and work with
[explorations](#work-with-explorations).
## Configuration
Cube for Excel uses the SQL API internally. So, the SQL API has to be
[enabled][ref-sql-api-enabled] in the Cube Cloud deployment settings.
## Installation
You have to install Cube for Excel into your Microsoft 365 organization.
To do so, navigate to its [page in the Microsoft AppSource][link-ms-appsource]
and click **Get it now**:
You can also add this add-in to your Excel application via the **Add-ins**
button. Where this button is located depends on the [Excel version][link-excel-addins].
For example, in Excel for the web, it's located on the rightmost side of the
**Home** ribbon.
Search for `Cube for Excel (add-in)` and click **Add**:
## Authentication
You need to authenticate Cube for Excel to retrieve data from Cube Cloud.
To do so, open the sidebar by clicking on the **Cube Cloud** button in
the **Home** ribbon. Then, click **Sign in**.
A modal window with an authentication prompt will appear. Choose the deployments
that you want to work with in Microsoft Excel and click **Authorize**.
Once you see the `Access Granted` message, close the modal window.
If you want to revoke the authentication, open the add-in menu and click
**Sign out**.
## Create explorations via pivot table
To create an exploration, open the add-in and click **Create exploration**.
Then, select a Cube Cloud deployment from the drop-down. Finally,
you can start building a query by selecting a view and its members in the UI that
looks and feels like [Playground][ref-playground].
Cube for Excel works only with [views][ref-views], not cubes.
If the view defines [`default_ui_filters`][ref-default-ui-filters], those
filters are pre-populated as soon as you select the view — the same way they
are in workbooks. They are a starting point, not enforcement: you can change
their values, switch operators, or remove them.
Click on members to add them to **Rows** and **Measures**, or drag a member from
the list straight onto **Rows**, **Columns**, or **Measures**. You can also drag
members between zones to rearrange them. Click on the funnel buttons to add
members to **Filters**. Click on **×** to remove members from a query.
Use **Order** and **Filters** panes below to sort and filter the
data in the exploration.
If you'd like to move the exploration to a new location, click on the desired top-left
cell and then confirm with the target button under **Result location**.
With every change to your query, Cube for Excel will update the exploration on
the sheet after a slight delay. If you'd like to minimize it, consider
implementing [pre-aggregations][ref-pre-aggs].
### Measure position and order
By default, measures nest under each value of the dimension they're paired
with — every measure for the first column value, then every measure for the
next. Open the **Display** tab to change **Measure position** to **Before
columns** to get the opposite layout: each measure spans every column value,
with all values of one measure together before moving to the next.
For example, with `Forecast Sales Units` and `Forecast Net Sales` on Measures
and a `season` dimension on Columns:
* **After columns** (default): `Q1: [Sales Units, Net Sales] | Q2: [Sales
Units, Net Sales]`
* **Before columns**: `Sales Units: [Q1, Q2] | Net Sales: [Q1, Q2]`
The same choice applies when measures are placed on **Rows** instead (set
with **Measures on**, in the same tab) — there it's labeled **After rows** /
**Before rows**.
To change the order measures appear in within their group, drag them within
the **Measures** pane on the **Pivot** tab. Position and order are saved with
the exploration and survive **Refresh**.
When your exploration is ready, click **Save** to add it to your workspace. You
can then [work with the exploration](#work-with-explorations) from the add-in.
## Work with explorations
Opening the add-in shows the current workbook's home: every exploration
placed in this workbook, grouped by sheet, with each placement's range and
how long ago it last refreshed. A placement is tagged **Stale** when its
source exploration has been edited since that copy was written to the sheet.
Running an exploration keeps its progress even if you close the pane before
saving — the workbook home lists it under **Unsaved**, and reopening it
resumes exactly where you left off. The pane can also hold more than one
exploration open at once, switchable from a picker at the top.
Click **Browse all explorations** to search by name across your whole
deployment, not just the current folder — results are grouped by type and
show each item's folder location, and selecting one navigates you straight to
it.
An exploration can be placed more than once — on different sheets or at
different anchors in the same workbook, and in more than one document at
once (a Google Sheets spreadsheet and an Excel workbook simultaneously).
Hovering a row in this list shows every placement it has in the **current**
document under **Location** / **Locations**. Click **Refresh** to update all
of that exploration's placements in the current document at once; click its
title to open it and change the query, which applies to every placement.
A placement survives renaming the sheet it's on or the workbook it's in —
it's tracked by the sheet's and workbook's own stable ids, not by name. A
placement's anchor is a fixed cell reference, though, so it does **not**
survive rows or columns inserted above it: the visible data shifts down with
the insert, but the stored anchor doesn't move with it, so the next refresh
targets the wrong cell.
If a placement's written cells come back empty — for example, someone deleted
them by hand — the workbook home shows a **No data** tag next to it. Opening
the pane also checks whether the cells it wrote still hold what was last
written; if any have been typed over or cleared since, it shows a notice with
an option to jump straight to the changed cells, which clears the next time you
run the exploration. Neither check catches rows or columns inserted above the
block — that's the anchor limitation described above.
Use the row menu's **Detach** or **Delete** to stop working with an exploration
in this document. **Detach** removes it from this workbook only — it stays in
your Cube Cloud workspace and in any other document it's placed in. **Delete**
removes it everywhere it's been placed. Both offer to clear the written cells,
which is checked by default.
If an exploration has filters applied, an admin can turn on **Show applied filters
in reports** (Settings → Spreadsheet Add-ins) to make the filter state
visible on the sheet itself. When enabled, a summary of active filters is
added above the table, and filtered columns are marked "(filtered)" in
their header, both when the exploration is inserted and after **Refresh**. Each
user can override this for themselves from the add-in's own **Settings**.
Saved explorations also appear in the Cube Cloud workspace. See
[Saving explorations][ref-explorations] for details.
## Add-in settings
Open **Settings** from the add-in's menu to set personal preferences: whether
selecting a sheet jumps the pane to its exploration and vice versa, whether an
exploration runs automatically, whether duplicate values in the result are
suppressed, and the per-user override of **Show applied filters in reports**
described above.
[ref-excel]: /admin/connect-to-data/visualization-tools/excel
[link-pivottable]: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-a-pivottable-to-analyze-worksheet-data-a9a84538-bfe9-40a9-a8e9-f99134456576
[ref-playground]: /docs/explore-analyze/playground
[ref-views]: /docs/data-modeling/views
[ref-pre-aggs]: /docs/pre-aggregations/using-pre-aggregations
[ref-default-ui-filters]: /reference/data-modeling/view#default_ui_filters
[ref-sql-api-enabled]: /reference/core-data-apis/sql-api#cube-cloud
[link-excel-addins]: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-or-remove-add-ins-in-excel-0af570c4-5cf3-4fa9-9b88-403625a0b460
[link-ms-appsource]: https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/product/office/WA200008486
[ref-explorations]: /docs/explore-analyze/explore#saving-explorations