Get AVEVA PI Data into Excel
Why getting PI data into Excel is harder than it should be
Engineers live in Excel. When they want to pull process data from AVEVA PI into a spreadsheet, the expectation is that it should be straightforward — PI is the historian, Excel is everywhere. In practice, it's one of the more frustrating integrations in industrial IT.
Your laptop can't reach the PI server
PI lives on the OT network, behind firewalls that exist to keep operational systems isolated from corporate IT. Even if you had a connector, an engineer's laptop on the corporate network typically has no direct path to the PI Data Archive — and adding one requires a firewall change that involves multiple teams and sign-offs.
PI DataLink requires a full SDK installation on every machine
AVEVA's PI DataLink add-in for Excel does exist — and it's genuinely capable. But it requires the PI AF SDK to be installed locally on each user's machine. That means an IT ticket for every engineer who needs access, version management across the organization, and a hard dependency on desktop Excel. Onboarding a new team member isn't self-service.
PI DataLink breaks in Excel for the Web
If your organization stores workbooks in SharePoint or OneDrive and opens them in a browser, PI DataLink stops working entirely. The add-in depends on locally installed software that the web version of Excel cannot access. Shared workbooks that pull PI data become broken files for anyone not on a configured desktop machine.
Most teams fall back to manual CSV exports
Without a working connector, the workaround is to export data from PI Vision or PI ProcessBook as a CSV and paste it into Excel manually. The data is already stale the moment you download it. Every update means repeating the export, overwriting the sheet, and hoping nothing breaks in your formulas. Shared workbooks become "email me the latest version" email chains.
Aggregations end up in cell formulas — and break
Even when engineers get raw data into Excel, they still need to calculate hourly averages, daily totals, time-weighted means. Those calculations get built into cell formulas tied to specific row ranges. When the data shape changes — different tag, different time range, different resolution — the formulas break. Rebuilding them each time is tedious work that adds no analytical value.
PI DataLink is PI-only
If your site runs multiple historians — AVEVA PI in one unit, Wonderware in another, a SQL-based DataLogger somewhere else — you'd need a separate add-in for each. There's no single Excel integration that spans multiple OT data sources, which means multi-source reports require manually stitching together exports from different systems.
The approaches teams usually try
These can work — but each comes with trade-offs that tend to surface quickly.
CSV export + paste
Download data from PI Vision or ProcessBook, paste it into Excel. Works once, for one time range, for one person.
The catch: Data is stale on arrival. Every update is manual. Shared workbooks become "latest version" email chains, and calculations break the next time someone refreshes the data.
PI DataLink
The right tool for the job — but with significant overhead. PI AF SDK installed on every desktop, IT-managed deployments, and no support for Excel for the Web.
The catch: Only covers PI. If you have other historians, you're back to manual exports for those. And any workbook shared to SharePoint breaks for users without a configured desktop.
ODBC / Power Query
Engineers sometimes try to connect Excel directly to PI via ODBC or Power Query. PI doesn't expose a standard SQL interface, so this path usually dead-ends quickly.
The catch: Third-party ODBC bridges exist but add infrastructure, licensing, and another maintenance dependency — and still don't solve the OT network isolation problem.
How TrendOps gets PI data into Excel
TrendOps splits the problem in two: TrendOps Edge handles the OT side — connecting to PI on-premise, inside the OT network, with no inbound firewall rules required. TrendOps Link handles the Excel side — a web add-in that brings that data into any workbook, on any device, without installing anything.
TrendOps Link is a Microsoft 365 web add-in. Engineers install it the same way as any Office add-in — no local software, no IT deployment, no version management across machines.
Because TrendOps Link is a web add-in, it works identically in the browser. Workbooks stored on SharePoint or OneDrive refresh PI data whether opened in the desktop app or a browser tab — no broken files, no missing data for web users.
Use the task pane to browse the tag catalog and build queries interactively, or write cell functions directly. Pull historical data over a time range, get a snapshot value at a specific point in time, or retrieve event data associated with a tag.
Specify aggregation (average, min, max, sum, time-weighted average) and resolution (raw, 1-min, 5-min, hourly, daily) in the query. Data arrives in Excel already shaped — no row-range formulas that break when parameters change.
Choose how gaps in your data are handled: step (hold last value), linear (interpolate between readings), zero, or blank. Behavior is set in the query — not in downstream cell formulas that someone eventually deletes by accident.
TrendOps Link connects to everything integrated into TrendOps — PI, Wonderware, DeltaV, SQL historians. Build a workbook that combines PI data from one unit with Wonderware data from another, through the same add-in, with no manual stitching.
TrendOps Edge runs inside the OT network and communicates outbound only over MQTT. Your PI server never needs to be reachable from the corporate network or the internet.
TrendOps Link is part of the TrendOps platform subscription. There's no separate DataLink-style license to purchase, negotiate, or renew.
What you end up with
Workbooks that refresh from current PI tag values — not last week's CSV paste
Desktop, browser, SharePoint — the same workbook works for everyone on the team
One add-in for every historian you've connected — no per-source tools or manual stitching
Engineers add tags and build their own queries without IT involvement or software deployments
Your PI data in Excel — on any device, without the overhead
TrendOps Link connects to your AVEVA PI historian through the TrendOps platform and brings the data into Excel as a web add-in — no SDK installation, no broken SharePoint files, no CSV exports.
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