Workiva Sync for spreadsheets

Workiva Sync syncs information from an Excel workbook to Workiva, allowing you to create new spreadsheets or update existing ones with data from your computer.

This will provide increased data security, a modernized user interface, and a streamlined update process that eliminates the need for reinstallation when Workiva adds new features.

Note: To preserve formatting, we recommend using the import feature when first bringing an Excel file into Workiva. After the initial import, use Workiva Sync to efficiently make updates.

Installation requirements

Before you install Workiva Sync, you'll first need to have specific requirements.

User permissions

The user account performing the installation must be an administrator on the PC.

Supported Excel versions

• Excel on iPad
• Excel on Mac (Microsoft 365)
• Excel on Windows (Microsoft 365)
• Excel 2016 or later on Mac
• Excel 2019 or later on Mac
• Excel 2016 or later on Windows
• Excel 2019 or later on Windows
• Excel on the Web

For the best experience, we recommend Microsoft Office 365 integrated with the most recent desktop version of Excel.

Excel browser details

Volume licensed versions of Excel 2016 and Excel 2019 use IE11 as the integrated browser with no method of adjusting which browser is used. Microsoft 365 installations will need WebView2 installed if they are on a build before 16.0.13530.20424.

For more information, view these links:

• Browsers and webview controls used by Office Add-ins
• Microsoft Edge WebView2

Workiva Sync offers a Use selected cells feature that lets users to sync only the data ranges currently selected in the Excel workbook. This feature is dependent on Excel API 1.9 which is only available in certain versions of Excel. For more information, read Excel JavaScript API requirement sets.

Install Workiva Sync

Workiva Sync is an Excel add-in available on Microsoft Appsource. The IT team responsible for managing your Microsoft tenant and typically handles the installation. When you install Workiva Sync, a 4KB manifest file is installed to your computer. This file instructs Excel to add a Workiva Sync button to the Home toolbar. Clicking this button opens the embedded browser within Excel, where you can log into your Workiva Platform account to begin syncing data.

• Microsoft 365 Admin Center - Upload the manifest file directly to the Microsoft tenant.
• Third-party tools - Use a centralized deployment tool to distribute the manifest file to users' machines.

Install Workiva Sync directly through Microsoft Appsource

If the Microsoft Appsource Marketplace is unblocked and users have permissions to add Office add-ins, end users may install Workiva Sync directly. If you are unable to install Workiva Sync directly through Microsoft Appsource, contact your company's IT resources.

To add Workiva Sync in Excel:

1. Open Excel and select the Insert tab.
2. Click the Add-ins icon. Its location on the Home toolbar and icon depends on the version of Excel you are using, and what other add-ins you have installed. Here are two examples:
   
3. In the Office Add-ins window, click Office Store.
4. Type "Workiva" in the search box. What you see will be something like the following:
5. Select Workiva Sync, and click Add. 
6. Then, click Continue. Workiva Sync will be added to your Excel.

Use Workiva Sync

You can use Workiva Sync to sync your Excel workbook to a blank or existing Workiva spreadsheet.

Note: If you're syncing to an existing Workiva spreadsheet, you may need to adjust it for changes to sync correctly. For example, if you added a new row of data in your Excel workbook, you must add an empty row in the same place in the Workiva spreadsheet. Also, if tabs in the Excel workbook don't match the sheet names in the Workiva spreadsheet, syncing will add new sheets with the tabs’ names.

To sync an Excel file to your Workiva Platform account:

1. Open your version of Excel.
2. Click the Workiva Sync tab in the Excel toolbar. Depending on your version of Excel, the icon may be different, here are two examples of what it may look like:
   
3. Choose your Workiva environment from the dropdown and click Next.
4. Select the Workspace you want to sync to and click Next.
5. Then, select Start a Sync.
6. Fill out details in the Sync Details form.
   • Choose where to sync - You can search for files or click the dropdown which will list the most recent spreadsheets that you have edit permissions to. Once a spreadsheet is selected, Workiva Sync automatically selects Excel sheets to include in the sync where there's an identical sheet name match in the Workiva destination spreadsheet.

     Sheets not detected with the same sheet name are not automatically selected to be in the sync. These sheets can be deselected if you don't want to include them. Any non-hidden sheet in the Excel file can be manually selected to be included in the sync.

   • Use selected ranges - This syncs the selected ranges in the Excel sheets to be included in the sync. This option is not available in volume licensed versions of Excel 2016 and Excel 2019 (non-365).
   • Include formulas - Formulas in Excel will be synced in as formulas if they are Workiva supported. Unsupported formulas are synced as values. You can view which formulas were synced in a values and it'll provide navigation to specific cells in the Workiva destination sheet.
7. Once you've filled out your details, select Sync.

   Note: The maximum number of cells that can be synced at once is 2 million.

8. When the sync is complete, a notice will appear in the lower right corner of the window.

Once your sync is complete, you can view your new or existing spreadsheet in your account. Fonts, colors, lines, or other formatting found in the original document are not imported. If there is information in your sheet that you don't want to be overwritten, lock that cell to prevent future changes.

For additional security and data management, view Workiva Sync Technical Details.

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