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What is the difference between XL-Connector and XL-Connector 365?

Main differences between XL-Connector and XL-Connector 365:

  1. XL-Connector 365 works in any Excel (Excel for Windows, Excel for Mac, Excel Online), while XL-Connector only works on Windows
  2. XL-Connector 365 can perform automatic data pulls and pushes offline in an Excel file stored on OneDrive or SharePoint. XL-Connector cannot do that, it’s a locally installed tool that works only when Excel is running.
  3. XL-Connector has the ability to work with VBA, which makes it more flexible in creating complex automation tasks.
  4. XL-Connector has a set of admin-specific features dealing with Salesforce metadata that are not available in XL-Connector 365.

XL-Connector

XL-Connector is a COM addin that was created by Xappex back in 2013.

It is a piece of software that needs to be installed on a local computer to appear in the Excel ribbon. Since COM add-ins are not supported by Excels on any other platform than Windows – XL-Connector can be used on Windows computers only.

Once installed, it shows up in the XL-Connector ribbon tab in Excel:

XL-Connector 365

XL-Connector 365 is the new type of Microsoft Excel add-ins that are supported across all platforms where Excel can be used.

It is a cloud app that can be installed from Microsoft AppSource. Once installed, the shortcuts to the main add-in functions will show up in the XL-Connector 365 ribbon tab in Excel:

Clicking on any of the shortcuts will open the main plug-in window as a side pane in Excel:

Apart from UI differences, there are some functional differences as well.

Functions supported in XL-Connector 365, but not supported in XL-Connector:

  • Schedule automatic offline data refresh, mass-updates, and mass record creation
Functions supported in XL-Connector, but not supported in XL-Connector 365 (these are mostly Salesforce administrator specific ones):
  • 2-way VBA interaction
  • Salesforce Fields Manager
  • Field-Level Security Manager
  • Layout Analyzer
  • Field Utilization Calculator
  • Picklist Values Manager
  • Validation Rules Manager
  • Workflow Rules Manager
  • Custom Metadata Manager
  • Flows and Processes manager
  • Picklists manager
  • Fields manager
  • Field-level Security manager
  • Object Access manager
  • Tab Visibility manager

 

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