## Update column metadata in Microsoft Excel

URL: https://docs.atlan.com/product/integrations/collaboration/spreadsheets/how-tos/update-column-metadata-in-microsoft-excel

> Once you've [connected Atlan with Microsoft Excel](/product/integrations/collaboration/spreadsheets/how-tos/integrate-atlan-with-microsoft-excel), you can import the column metadata for all your data assets in Atlan and make changes to them directly in Microsoft Excel.

Once you've [connected Atlan with Microsoft Excel](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/integrations/integrate-atlan-with-microsoft-excel/llms.txt), you can import the column metadata for all your data assets in Atlan and make changes to them directly in Microsoft Excel.

Atlan currently supports importing and updating column metadata for the following asset types:

- Tables
- Views
- Materialized views
- [Looker explores](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/connectors/looker/what-does-atlan-crawl-from-looker/llms.txt)
- [Microsoft Power BI tables](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/connectors/microsoft-power-bi/what-does-atlan-crawl-from-microsoft-power-bi/llms.txt)
- [Salesforce objects](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/connectors/salesforce/what-does-atlan-crawl-from-salesforce/llms.txt)
- [Tableau data sources](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/connectors/tableau/what-does-atlan-crawl-from-tableau/llms.txt)

:::warning

You'll need to be logged into your Atlan instance before you can start importing column metadata for your Atlan assets in Microsoft Excel. If you don't have the [permission](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/access-control/delegate-administration/llms.txt) to update asset metadata, your changes won't be pushed to Atlan nor a request created for approval - even if you receive a success message in Microsoft Excel. Ensure that you have the requisite permissions to update an asset before pushing your changes. Your user permissions are used to determine the bulk updates you can make to ensure that there's no adverse impact on assets beyond your scope of access.

:::

## Import column metadata

You can import column metadata for your data assets directly into Microsoft Excel.

To import column metadata for your data assets to Microsoft Excel:

1. In the menu bar of your Microsoft Excel workbook, click **Atlan**.
2. From the _Atlan_ tab, click **Enrich metadata** to view a list of your data assets in a sidebar.
3. (Optional) To filter your assets by a specific asset type, in the Atlan sidebar, click the asset type - for example, _Tableau Datasources_.
4. In the Atlan sidebar on your worksheet, you can either:
 - Individually select the data asset(s) you want to import.
 - To the left of the _Import_ button, click the **Select All** checkbox to select all the assets that have loaded in the sidebar. (Optional) Scroll down and click **Load more** to load more assets in the sidebar.
5. Click **Import** to import column metadata for your selected assets.

The column metadata for your selected assets are now available in Microsoft Excel! 🎉

:::info **Did you know?** 
 If any changes are made to your imported columns in Atlan, you'll need to import those columns once again to access the updated version in Microsoft Excel.

:::

## Update column metadata

Once you've imported your data assets from Atlan, you can edit the metadata for your selected data asset in Microsoft Excel. You can make changes to the column metadata once all the columns have been successfully imported.

You can only make changes to the metadata in the following columns:

- [_Description_](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/add-descriptions/llms.txt)
- [_Certification Status_](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/add-certificates/llms.txt)
- _Certification Message_
- [_Announcement Type_](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/integrations/create-announcements/llms.txt)
- _Announcement Title_
- _Announcement Message_
- _[Tags](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/tags/attach-a-tag/llms.txt)_

You **cannot** make the following changes:

- Edit headers for any of the columns
- Edit the metadata in the _Column Name_, _Data Type_, _Propagated Tags_, and _Qualified Name_ columns
- Delete any columns or rows

Any of these changes won't be pushed to Atlan and you'll receive an error message.

### Bulk update tags for columns

:::warning

You cannot make any changes to the metadata in the _Propagated Tags_ column.

:::

Navigate to the _Tags_ column to add tags to your column assets in Microsoft Excel:

When adding tags to columns:

- The tag must already exist in Atlan. If the tag doesn't exist in Atlan, updates won't sync and you'll receive an error message.
- Tag match is case-sensitive, ensure that the tag is formatted exactly as it exists in Atlan. For example, if the tag in Atlan is formatted as `Marketing Analysis`, then columns tagged with `marketing analysis` won't sync.
- You can add multiple tags in the _Tags_ column - separate multiple tags with a comma `,`.
- If you've added tags that exist in Atlan as well as ones that don't, _only_ the existing tags will be synced. The unsupported tags won't sync and you'll receive an error message.
- [Tag propagation](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/faq/tags-and-metadata-management/llms.txt) is disabled by default in Atlan, hence tags won't be propagated.

## Push your changes to Atlan

Once you've made changes to the column metadata, to push your changes:

1. In the menu bar of your Microsoft Excel workbook, click **Atlan**.
2. From the _Atlan_ tab, click **Sync to Atlan**.
3. The Atlan sidebar appears once the changes have synced.
 1. (Optional) Click **Open in Atlan** to verify the changes.
 2. In Atlan, an _Updated using Microsoft Excel_ stamp appears in the [activity log](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/faq/llms.txt) for updated assets. (Optional) Click the **Microsoft Excel** link to view the source spreadsheet from Atlan.

:::info **Did you know?** 
 You can [download impacted assets](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/integrations/download-impacted-assets-in-microsoft-excel/llms.txt) for impact analysis in Microsoft Excel.

:::

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