Recruit - Connecting a live-link report to Office 365 Excel 2016

Microsoft recently changed the "Data > Get data > From web" functionality within Excel. This article may apply to both standard and Office 365 subscription versions of Excel 2016 +.

The problem

There is a known Microsoft Excel issue with this feature when used on websites which require credentials (see here for more info). In the latest versions of Excel, users are therefore currently unable to authenticate to either Analytics or the Recruit backoffice using any of the standard Data > Get data > From web commands in Excel to "live-link" a report from Recruit into Excel.

This issue applies regardless of which authentication mechanism is selected from the left menu (Basic in the below screenshot). This means that you always see the following message, even when the correct credentials are entered:

The solution

The solution provided by Microsoft is to add the legacy Data from web function to the Ribbon in Excel. To do this, take the following steps:

1. Go File > Options > Customise Ribbon and select All commands from the drop-down menu at the top on the left side, then find From Web (Legacy) in the list on the left as shown below:

2. On the right hand side, navigate to and select the Data section and click the New Group button to add a new custom group, then rename the group as you like. Above, you can see that we have added a custom group called From Analytics (highlighted in grey on the right).

3. Select your new custom group and then click the Add button (highlighted in green above) to add the From Web (Legacy) command to your new new custom group, as shown below:

4. Click OK to save the change and you should now have the From Web (Legacy) command within the Data section of the Excel Ribbon as shown below:

5. Rather than any of the other Excel Get Data From Web command, use the new From Web (Legacy) command to use Live-link URLs from Recruit in Excel. As described in other knowledgebase articles on this topic, replace the URL in the Address box of the pop-up with the relevant Live-link URL from Recruit or Analytics and you will be asked to enter your Recruit credentials to allow the data to be brought into Excel as shown below: