How to set up the Excel 365 integration
Connect Excel 365 so values from your workbooks flow into journey map metric cards.
An Admin connects Excel 365 once at the account level. After that, anyone in the workspace can build metrics from the workbooks in your OneDrive or SharePoint.
In this guide
Set up the Excel 365 integration
Prerequisites
Admin role at the account level
A Microsoft 365 account with the Excel workbooks you want to use stored in OneDrive or SharePoint
For service account auth: permission to register an app in Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) and grant admin consent for Microsoft Graph permissions
In Smaply, go to Account Settings > Integrations and click Set up next to Office 365 Excel.
The Configure Excel page opens with two options under Select integration type: Service account (selected by default and marked Recommended) and Login with your Office 365 account (oAuth). Switching the method later disconnects the current one, so pick the one that fits before you save:
Service account (recommended) - Server-to-server access through a Microsoft Entra ID app, so the connection isn't tied to one person's login. Best when your team shares the Smaply account.
OAuth - Signs Smaply in as one person and reads the Excel files that account can already open. Simpler when only one person needs the data.
Plan availability
Service account auth is available on the Governance plan. OAuth auth (the other tab) is available on all plans that include metrics integrations.
The service account is a Microsoft Entra ID app registration that connects to your files through Microsoft Graph. You register the app, grant it one Graph permission with admin consent, create a client secret, and enter three credentials in Smaply.
Keep the Configure Excel page open in another tab. You'll come back to it at the end to enter the credentials.
Register an app in Microsoft Entra ID
In the Azure portal, open Microsoft Entra ID > App registrations and click + New registration.
On the Register an application page, give the app a recognisable name (for example, Smaply Office 365 connector), choose Accounts in this organizational directory only (Single tenant), leave the Redirect URI blank, and click Register.
For full background on app registrations, see Microsoft's quickstart on registering an application.
Assign the Microsoft Graph permission
On the registered app, open API permissions and click + Add a permission. Choose Microsoft Graph, then Application permissions, tick Files.Read.All, and click Add permissions.
Smaply only needs Files.Read.All. The screenshot above also lists User.Read (added automatically by Azure) and User.Read.All; you don't need to add User.Read.All for this integration.
Back on the API permissions page, click Grant admin consent for [your directory] and confirm in the dialog.
Important: Without admin consent the connection authenticates but reads no files
The grant button only appears for a directory admin. If the Admin consent required column says Yes but consent isn't granted, Smaply connects and then returns an empty workbook list. Grant consent before relying on the integration.
Create a client secret
In the same app, open Certificates & secrets, and on the Client secrets tab click + New client secret. Give it a description and an expiry, then click Add.
Copy the secret Value immediately.
Enter the credentials in Smaply
Open the registered app's Overview page and copy the Application (client) ID and the Directory (tenant) ID.
Return to the Configure Excel page in Smaply and paste the values into the three fields:
Tenant ID - The Directory (tenant) ID from the app overview.
Client ID - The Application (client) ID from the same page.
Client Secret - The secret Value you copied when you created the client secret.
Click Save Service Account.
OAuth signs Smaply in as you. The connection reads the Excel files your Microsoft account can already open in OneDrive or SharePoint, and tokens are tied to your individual access.
Prerequisites
A Microsoft 365 account with access to at least one Excel file in OneDrive or SharePoint
If your organisation requires admin approval for third-party app consent, a Microsoft admin available to approve the grant
Choose Login with your Office 365 account (oAuth)
On the Configure Excel page, select Login with your Office 365 account (oAuth). The right pane changes to Connect Office 365 Excel with a three-step info panel and the Connect Office 365 Excel button.
Click Connect Office 365 Excel. Smaply redirects you to Microsoft.
Sign in and grant permissions
Sign in with the Microsoft account that can open the Excel files you want to use in Smaply. On Microsoft's consent screen, review the permissions Smaply requests:
Read all files that you have access to
Sign you in and read your profile
Optionally, Consent on behalf of your organisation (only available to admins)
Click Accept. If your organisation requires admin approval for third-party apps, the consent screen tells you to ask an admin instead, and the connection completes once an admin approves it.
Authorise the connection
Microsoft sends you back to Smaply and the Configure Excel page shows the connected state. Smaply refreshes OAuth tokens automatically, so you don't need to sign in again unless the token is revoked.
If you revoke Smaply's access in your Microsoft account or lose access to a file, the connection drops and metrics that depend on it stop pulling data. For team-wide use, switch to a Service account so the connection isn't tied to one person's login.
Verify the setup
Open the Configure Excel page and confirm it shows the connected state. Then create a test metric with Source set to Excel (Office 365): if the Spreadsheet picker lists your workbooks, the connection is working.
If the picker stays empty or you see a connection error, see Troubleshooting below.
Use Excel 365 in a metric
With the connection in place, anyone in your account can add Excel 365 data to a metric card on any journey map. See How to use Excel 365 in a metric for the field mapping and how to pick a workbook and sheet.
Troubleshooting
The Integrations tab in Account Settings shows the integration's current state. Pick the symptom below that matches what you're seeing.
Connection Failed or Connection Error banner - Connection issue
A red banner on the Configure Excel page means Smaply cannot reach Office 365 with the stored credentials.
For service account: re-check the Tenant ID, Client ID, and Client Secret values for typos or trailing whitespace, and confirm the client secret hasn't expired in Microsoft Entra ID.
For OAuth: click Connect Office 365 Excel again from the Configure page. The token may have expired or been revoked.
The Spreadsheet picker is empty or shows no workbooks - Permissions issue
The connection succeeds but no workbooks appear when you build a metric.
For service account: confirm you granted admin consent for the Files.Read.All Microsoft Graph permission. Without the grant, Smaply authenticates but can't read any files.
For OAuth: confirm the signed-in Microsoft account has access to at least one Excel file in OneDrive or SharePoint.
Microsoft asked for admin approval during OAuth - Consent issue
The Microsoft consent screen tells you the app needs admin approval before you can complete the connection.
Some organisations require an admin to pre-approve third-party app grants. Ask your Microsoft admin to approve Smaply, then return to the Configure Excel page and click Connect Office 365 Excel again.
If admin approval isn't an option for your org, use the Service account method instead.
Metrics that worked previously have stopped pulling - Token revoked
Metrics that worked before now show errors and stop pulling data.
For OAuth, the usual cause is the grant being revoked, either by signing out of Microsoft everywhere or by an admin removing the Smaply app. Open the Configure Excel page and click Connect Office 365 Excel to re-establish the grant.
If the same person keeps losing the connection, switch to a Service account so it isn't tied to one Microsoft session.
A metric returns no data or unexpected values - Data issue
The connection works but the metric returns nothing or values that don't look right.
Confirm the workbook and sheet the metric points at still exist with the same names. Renaming or moving a file in OneDrive or SharePoint breaks the metric until it's re-pointed.
Confirm the data values you mapped still sit in the same columns in the source workbook.
For wider questions about how integrations behave across tools (refresh frequency, switching auth, what happens on disconnect), see How to manage integrations.
Still not working? Contact support at help@smaply.com
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