How to Export Data from Website to Excel

Pulling data from a website into Excel is a tale as old as time. You have valuable information locked away in your website's backend - like Google Analytics traffic, Shopify sales data, or Salesforce lead reports - and you need it in a spreadsheet to slice, dice, and analyze. This guide breaks down the most common methods for getting that data into Excel, from simple one-off exports to more automated, dynamic solutions.

First, Why Export to Excel at All?

Even with countless modern dashboard tools, Excel and Google Sheets remain the go-to for many. The reasons are simple and valid:

• Familiarity: You and your team already know how to use it. There's no learning curve for VLOOKUPs, PivotTables, or building a quick chart.
• Flexibility: You can combine data from different sources, create custom calculations, and format reports exactly how you want.
• Offline Access: Once the data is exported, you can analyze it anywhere, without needing an internet connection or access to the original platform.

The goal isn't just to have the data, it's to turn it into actionable information. Excel often feels like the most direct path to getting that done. Let's look at how to get your data there.

Method 1: The Simple Copy and Paste

This is the quick-and-dirty method. When you just need a small, specific table from a public webpage for a one-time analysis, a simple copy and paste is often the fastest route.

When to Use This Method:

• For small data tables on a webpage.
• For one-off tasks where you won't need to refresh the data.
• When the website doesn't offer an "Export to CSV" option.

How to Do It:

1. Highlight the Data: On the website, use your mouse to click and drag over the table you want to copy.
2. Copy It: Right-click and select "Copy," or use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+C on Windows, Cmd+C on Mac).
3. Paste into Excel: Open a new Excel worksheet, click on a cell, and paste the data (Ctrl+V or Cmd+V). Excel is usually smart enough to recognize a table structure and place the data into corresponding cells.

The Downside:

While quick, this method is prone to problems. You’ll often run into frustrating formatting issues, with data from one column spilling into another or extra unwanted HTML getting pasted along with it. It’s also completely manual and only works for visible data — if a table has multiple pages, you’d have to copy and paste each one individually.

Method 2: Exporting as a CSV File

This is the most common and reliable method for most SaaS platforms. "CSV" stands for Comma-Separated Values, which is a plain text file format that Excel can easily open and understand perfectly. Nearly every data tool, from analytics platforms to CRMs, has an "Export to CSV" button.

When to Use This Method:

• Whenever the platform offers it! It's the standard for clean data transfer.
• For exporting reports from tools like Google Analytics, Shopify, HubSpot, Salesforce, etc.
• When you need a full data set, not just what's visible on the screen.

Step-by-Step Examples:

In Google Analytics 4:

1. Navigate to a report you want to export (e.g., Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition).
2. In the top right corner of the report, look for the "Share" icon (a box with an arrow pointing up).
3. Click the icon and select "Download File."
4. Choose "Download CSV." The file will download to your computer, ready to be opened in Excel.

This process is very similar across other platforms. In Shopify, you'll find an "Export" button on your product or order lists. In HubSpot, reports and contact lists have a prominent "Export" option in the top right.

The Downside:

The biggest drawback of a CSV export is that it's a static snapshot in time. The data is outdated the moment you download it. This is manageable for a one-time analysis, but it becomes a huge bottleneck for recurring reports.

If you create a weekly sales report, this process means that every single Monday you have to log into your platform, navigate to the right report, set the date range, export the CSV, open it in Excel, and then re-do all your formatting and calculations. It's a repetitive time sink.

Method 3: Using Excel's "Get Data from Web" Feature

For data that lives in a simple HTML table on a public webpage (like a Wikipedia table or a table of stock prices), you can use a built-in Excel feature to create a live, refreshable connection. This is a huge step up from copy-pasting.

When to Use This Method:

• When the data is in a structured table (<table>) HTML tag on a public webpage.
• When you need data that you can refresh without leaving Excel.
• Not suitable for data that requires a login, like inside your GA or Shopify account.

How to Do it (in modern Excel):

1. Get the URL: Copy the full URL of the webpage containing the table.
2. Open Power Query: In Excel, go to the Data tab on the ribbon.
3. Select from Web: Click the From Web button. A dialog box will appear.
4. Paste the URL: Paste the URL you copied and click "OK."
5. Choose the Table: The Navigator window will open, showing a list of all the tables Excel found on that page. Click through them until you see a preview of the data you want.
6. Load the Data: Select your desired table and click the Load button.

Your data will instantly appear in a new, formatted table in your worksheet. The best part? To update it, just go to the Data tab and click Refresh All. Excel will go back to the webpage and pull in the latest info automatically.

Method 4: Using Data Connector Add-ins

What if you want that same refreshable magic, but for data behind a login wall, like your marketing or sales platforms? That’s where third-party data connectors and add-ins for Excel come in.

Tools like Supermetrics, Zapier, or Integromat act as a bridge. They use the official APIs of platforms like Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, and Salesforce to pipe data directly into your Excel workbook or Google Sheet, bypassing the need for manual CSV exports.

The General Workflow:

1. Install the add-in for Excel or Google Sheets.
2. Connect your data sources by logging in and authorizing the add-in.
3. Use the add-in's interface to build your query (e.g., select metrics like Sessions and dimensions like Source / Medium from Google Analytics).
4. The data is pulled directly into your spreadsheet.

The Advantage:

Instead of pulling a full, generic report, you can pull exactly the specific metrics and dimensions you need. Even better, you can set these queries to refresh automatically on a schedule (e.g., every morning at 8 AM). This is the key to automating your recurring reports in a spreadsheet environment.

Beyond Exporting: What are You Really Trying to Do?

Each of these methods solves the immediate problem of getting website data into Excel. But it's worth taking a step back. The endless cycle of exporting CSVs and refreshing data connectors is often a symptom of a larger issue: you're spending more time gathering data than you are understanding it.

Too many marketing and sales teams operate on a data delay. They spend Monday morning downloading last week's CSVs to build a report for a meeting on Tuesday, only to get follow-up questions they can't answer until Wednesday. By then, half the week is gone, and the moment to act on an insight has passed. The goal shouldn’t just be easier exporting, it should be instant answers.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, a simple copy-paste might be perfect for a quick number, while a CSV export is a reliable standard for platform data. For more advanced users, Excel's Web Query and special data connectors can help automate reporting by creating refreshable links to your data sources.

We built Graphed because we were tired of this manual grind. Instead of exporting data into spreadsheets, we let you connect directly to platforms like Google Analytics, Shopify, and dozens of others. You can ask questions in plain English - like "Compare my Facebook Ad spend vs Shopify revenue for the last 30 days" - and instantly get live dashboards. It's about skipping the repetitive exporting process entirely and getting straight to the insights you need to grow your business.