Excel 2016 and ODBC driver for PostgreSQL

Question

I am trying to connect Excel 2016 for Mac (on OS X El Capitan, 10.11) to a PostgreSQL database through ODBC connection; so I downloaded the drivers, specifically Actual Open source Databases.

I set everything up, test the connection successfully, but as soon as I try to save the settings, Excel crashes.

Should I try to re-install Excel? Any advice is strongly appreciated!

(I know already, Excel sucks ... but I still need to establish the connection) Best, Vincenzo

Answer 1

Excel 2016 has issues (much more substantial in October 2015, but still present in November 2016). It's really not ready for prime time. Excel 2011 is a better bet, as things stand.

If you're stuck with Excel 2016, update to the latest iODBC (3.52.12, as of July 2016), create your DSN (System DSN recommended; User DSN may work for you) in iODBC Administrator.app (found in /Applications/iODBC/), and then use it with Excel.

(iODBC, produced by my employer, OpenLink Software, is the open source ODBC driver manager Apple has bundled into OS X since 10.2, but Apple remains several years behind the current iODBC version.)