How to Add PI DataLink to Excel

Bringing your live operational data into Microsoft Excel opens up a world of analysis, and PI DataLink is the bridge that makes it happen. Rather than exporting static files, you can connect directly to your PI System to create dynamic, auto-refreshing reports. This guide will walk you through the entire process of adding the PI DataLink add-in to Excel and offer some practical tips for troubleshooting common issues along the way.

Graphed

Build AI Agents for Marketing

Build virtual employees that run your go to market. Connect your data sources, deploy autonomous agents, and grow your company.

Build Your First Agent

What is PI DataLink, Anyway? A Quick Refresher

Before diving into the "how," let's quickly cover the "what." The OSIsoft PI System is a powerful real-time data management platform used widely in manufacturing, energy, pharmaceuticals, and other industrial sectors. It collects, stores, and organizes massive amounts of time-series data from sensors, machinery, and various operational sources.

PI DataLink is the specific Microsoft Excel add-in that allows you to connect to your PI System. It acts as a client tool, letting you pull this historical and real-time data directly into your spreadsheets. The benefits of this integration are immense:

• Streamlined Reporting: Create daily, weekly, or monthly production reports that update automatically without manual data entry.
• Ad-Hoc Analysis: Quickly investigate process issues or events by pulling relevant data for a specific time frame into a familiar tool like Excel.
• Combine Data Sets: Merge your live process data with business data (like costs, schedules, or targets) within the same spreadsheet to create comprehensive analyses.
• Powerful Visualizations: Use Excel’s robust charting tools to visualize trends, compare equipment performance, and monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) based on live information.

AI Agents for Marketing

Crash Course

Graphed

Free PDF · the crash course

AI Agents for Marketing Crash Course

Learn how to deploy AI marketing agents across your go-to-market — the best tools, prompts, and workflows to turn your data into autonomous execution without writing code.

Download the PDF

Prerequisites: What You Need Before You Start

To ensure a smooth setup, make sure you have the following in place first. Skipping these steps is the source of most installation problems.

• PI DataLink is Installed on Your PC: This is the most crucial prerequisite. PI DataLink is not part of a standard Excel or Windows installation. It is separate client software provided by OSIsoft (now part of AVEVA) that must be installed on your computer. If you are unsure, contact your company's IT department or PI System administrator to confirm it has been installed.
• A Compatible Version of Microsoft Excel: You need a working, desktop version of Microsoft Excel installed on your machine. PI DataLink is compatible with most modern versions (Excel 2016, 2019, Microsoft 365), but it’s always a good idea to check compatibility notes if you're using a very old or new version.
• PI Server Access and Permissions: You cannot pull data you aren't allowed to see. You'll need proper credentials and network access to connect to your organization's PI Data Server or PI AF (Asset Framework) Server. Your PI administrator sets these permissions.

Once you've confirmed these prerequisites, you're ready to add the tool to Excel.

Step-by-Step Guide: How to Add PI DataLink to Excel

The process of enabling PI DataLink involves navigating to Excel's add-ins menu. The add-in is typically categorized as a "COM Add-in." Here's how to find and activate it in modern versions of Excel.

Enabling the COM Add-in

Follow these steps to locate and turn on PI DataLink.

1. Open Microsoft Excel: Start with a blank workbook.
2. Go to the File Menu: Click the File tab in the upper-left corner of the Excel ribbon.
3. Open Excel Options: At the bottom of the navigation pane on the left, click Options. This will open the Excel Options dialog box.
4. Select Add-ins: In the Excel Options window, click on the Add-ins category from the left-hand menu. This screen shows all the active, inactive, and disabled add-ins in your Excel installation.
5. Manage COM Add-ins: At the very bottom of this window, you'll see a dropdown menu labeled "Manage:". Click this dropdown, select COM Add-ins, and then click the Go... button.
6. Activate PI DataLink: A new, smaller "COM Add-ins" window will appear. Look through the list for an item named "PI DataLink," "PI Datalink (Excel 2007+)," or something similar. Check the box next to it.
7. Confirm Your Selection: Click OK.

Once you click OK, the dialog box will close, and you should now see a brand new PI tab appear in your Excel ribbon, usually between the 'View' and 'Help' tabs. This tab contains all the PI DataLink functions like Current Value, Compressed Data, and Timed Data.

Graphed

Build AI Agents for Marketing

Build virtual employees that run your go to market. Connect your data sources, deploy autonomous agents, and grow your company.

Build Your First Agent

Alternative Method: Checking Excel Add-ins

In some rare cases, particularly with older versions, the add-in might be located under Excel Add-ins instead of COM Add-ins. If you couldn't find it using the method above, try this:

1. Follow steps 1-4 from the previous section to get to the Add-ins screen.
2. In the "Manage:" dropdown menu, select Excel Add-ins and click Go....
3. Look for an entry like "PI DataLink" or "pipc32.xll." If it’s there, check the box and click OK.
4. If it's not listed, you can try using the Browse... button to locate the add-in file manually. The file is usually named pipc32.xll and is typically found in a directory similar to C:\Program Files (x86)\PIPC\Excel\. This should only be used as a last resort.

Verifying the Installation: Is It Working?

Now that the PI tab is visible in your ribbon, let's run a quick test to make sure it can connect to your data server.

1. Open a PI DataLink Function: In the new PI ribbon, click on any of the functions, such as Current Value.
2. Connect to the Server: If this is your first time using it, you may be prompted to select a PI Data server. Use the search or dropdown to find the correct server for your organization. You might need to ask your IT administrator for the server name.
3. Search for a Tag: Once connected, the "Current Value" task pane will appear. In the 'Tag search' field, search for a process tag. Many PI Systems have a default test tag named 'sinusoid' that you can search for. This is a simple, auto-generated sine wave tag perfect for testing.
4. Get the Data: Select the 'sinusoid' tag (or any other known tag) and click OK or Apply. A live data value and its timestamp should appear in your selected Excel cell.

If you see a successful data point in your cell, congratulations! PI DataLink is successfully added and configured in your Excel.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Sometimes things don't go as planned. Here are some of the most common issues users face and how to resolve them.

Issue 1: The PI DataLink Add-in is Not in the List

You followed the steps, opened the COM Add-ins window, but "PI DataLink" is nowhere to be found.

• Root Cause: The PI DataLink client software is almost certainly not installed on your computer.
• Solution: You can't enable what isn't there. Contact your IT department or PI Administrator and ask them to install the "PI DataLink" client tool on your machine. Reference the prerequisites section.

Issue 2: The PI Tab Disappears After Restarting Excel

You enabled the add-in and it worked, but when you closed and reopened Excel, the PI tab was gone.

• Root Cause: Microsoft Excel sometimes automatically disables add-ins that it suspects are slowing down startup times or causing crashes.
• Solution: You need to re-enable it from the "Disabled Items" list.

AI Agents for Marketing

Crash Course

Graphed

Free PDF · the crash course

AI Agents for Marketing Crash Course

Learn how to deploy AI marketing agents across your go-to-market — the best tools, prompts, and workflows to turn your data into autonomous execution without writing code.

Download the PDF

Issue 3: You see #NAME?, #VALUE!, or "Connect to server failed" errors

The PI tab is there and you can use the functions, but your spreadsheet cells show errors instead of data.

• Root Cause: This typically indicates a network connectivity problem or incorrect permissions. Excel can't reach the PI server.
• Solution:

Final Thoughts

Adding PI DataLink to Excel transforms your familiar spreadsheet tool into a real-time analytics powerhouse for operational data. By following the steps to enable the COM add-in and verifying your connection, you can bridge the gap between process information and business intelligence, building reports that are always current and insightful.

While an amazing tool like PI DataLink streamlines operational reporting, creating a full picture often requires pulling marketing, sales, and finance data from other platforms. We built Graphed to remove the friction of gathering this broader data. You can connect your marketing and sales tools and simply ask in plain English for a dashboard showing "Facebook Ads spend versus Shopify revenue by campaign." This allows your entire team to spend less time wrangling data and more time making decisions.