Fabric Copy Activity (Data Pipeline) writing Excel File Does NOT recognize Data Types

[LambodarP]

I am trying to copy data from a small Azure sql database table into an Excel file, but I dont see an Excel type in "Destination" section.

Currently, I am using "Delimited-text" format and creating csv file. But asking, if there is a way to directly put the data in Excel file tabs ?

[data_msfabric · Accepted solution]

# Fabric Copy Activity and Excel File Output

Currently, in Microsoft Fabric's Data Pipeline Copy Activity, there isn't a native Excel file format option for destinations.
You're correct that the available formats include Delimited-text (CSV), Parquet, JSON, and others, but not Excel (.xlsx) directly.

Workarounds for Excel Output:

1. CSV to Excel Conversion:
Continue using the delimited-text format for the initial copy
Add a subsequent step to convert the CSV to Excel using:
A Notebook activity with Python (using pandas)
A Dataflow activity with transformation

2. Power BI Dataset:
Load your data into a Power BI dataset
Use "Analyze in Excel" feature from Power BI
3. Logic Apps or Azure Functions:
Create an automated flow that takes your CSV and converts it to Excel

4. Direct Query:
If users just need to analyze the data, consider creating a Direct-Query connection from Excel to your source

## Python Example for Conversion (in Notebook activity):
import pandas as pd

# Read the CSV created by your copy activity
df = pd.read_csv('/path/to/your/output.csv')

# Write to Excel
df.to_excel('/path/to/output.xlsx', sheet_name='Data', index=False)

[LambodarP]

Thanks for the response! There are 3 tables, one has 20 rows, second has 300 rows and third has 2000+ rows. Since multiple people keeps updating it, sometimes via the Pipeline using excel files and sometimes queries, I want to build a pipeline that can create an excel file with current snapshot of the table data.

[lbendlin]

How small?  You might have better luck with Power Automate.  Worst case you can use the Graph batch API to avoid RBAR.