As an introduction to importing data from the Internet, we will take advantage of an existing web query that comes with Excel 2003.

 

First, open an empty Excel workbook, and choose Data->Import External Data->Import Data from the menu bar.

 

 

Performing this action will display the Select Data Source dialogue box.

 

 

By default, the contents of the My Data Sources folder will be displayed in the main viewing area of the dialogue box. You could browse to another folder on your computer to import data from a local file, but for this example we will use one of the existing web queries provided by Excel 2003.

 

From the list of available web queries, select MSN MoneyCentral Investor Currency Rates.iqy

 

 

Once you have made your selection, click the Open button in the lower right of the Select Data Source box. This will display an import data dialogue box, asking you where you want the imported data to be located.

 

 

Select the Existing worksheet radio button, and specify a starting cell location for the imported data. Click the OK button when you are ready.

 

The results of the web query will be entered into the worksheet starting at the specified cell location.

 

Clearly, this is a direct and simple way to include Data from the web in your workbooks. You are not limited to the pre-packaged existing queries of course. Excel 2003 enables you to create your own web queries to extract information from the webpage of your choice.