Colrows for Excel

The Colrows Excel add-in lets a business user sign in, find a verified query, and drop its result into an Excel table they can refresh later - through the same governed semantic layer as everything else in Colrows. The add-in runs no SQL of its own: the server loads the reviewed query, checks publication and the user's data access on every run, and applies row and column policies.

What a user does

  1. On Excel's Data tab, choose Colrows to open the task pane.
  2. Choose Sign in. A window shows the Colrows consent page - which names the add-in as a verified Colrows application - and after Allow access it closes.
  3. Search for a verified query, select a cell, and choose Insert at selected cell. The result becomes an Excel table named after the query (for example Colrows_Monthly_revenue_by_region).
  4. Later, choose Refresh next to a table to re-run the same query ID and version, or Refresh all for every Colrows table in the workbook.

How it signs in

Sign-in uses the standard Colrows OAuth authorization-code flow with PKCE, requesting the metadata:read and data:query scopes - the same flow described in Authentication and used by MCP clients. Access tokens are short-lived and refresh automatically; when a session finally ends, the pane asks you to sign in again. Tokens live only in the task pane's memory - closing the pane signs you out - and the workbook stores only each table's query ID, version, sheet, and cell. It never stores tokens, SQL, the server address, or credentials.

Safe writes

  • Writes only into empty cells - it never overwrites your other data, and keeps the old table until the new result is ready.
  • Values are written as text so they aren't reinterpreted as formulas or numbers; dates and timestamps become real Excel dates (timestamps in UTC).
  • Rows are written in chunks so large results stay responsive.

Limits & behavior

  • 5,000-row cap - at most 5,000 rows per query are loaded into Excel. When more exist, the pane says only the first 5,000 are shown; rows are never dropped silently, and the limit is stated before any query runs.
  • Verified queries take no parameters. A table stays on the version it loaded; to pick up a newer version, search for the query and load it again.
  • Excel's own Refresh All is not wired to Colrows - use the task pane's Refresh / Refresh all.
  • Runs in Microsoft 365 on Windows, Mac, and Excel on the web.
Governed, not exported.

A refreshed table re-runs the reviewed query on the server under the current user's access - not a cached CSV. When someone's access changes, so does what the workbook can load.