OLAP Support in Excel 2007

Summary: In earlier versions of Excel the program provided support for OLAP cubes. Not so in Excel 2007. Here's why and an idea of how you can work around the fact it is no longer included. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 2007.)

John notes that in Excel versions prior to Excel 2007 it was possible to create an OLAP cube file using Microsoft Query. This feature does not appear to be supported in Excel 2007, and John wonders why it isn't included.

The official word on this matter seems to be available at a blog maintained by the MSDN team at Microsoft:

http://blogs.msdn.com/excel/archive/2006/08/24/718786.aspx

The OLAP cube functionality is listed, along with a list of other features no longer supported in Excel 2007. It seems that the primary reason for it being dropped was that it wasn't used that much by folks.

Interestingly, OLAP cubes created in previous versions of Excel are still supported in Excel 2007, so it is possible that you can use the earlier version to do the cube creation and then do the rest of your work in Excel 2007. (This presumes that you still have access to a system with an older version of Excel installed.)

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (6792) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 2007

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OLAP Support in Excel 2007