Using Microsoft Office for Mac as a Relational Database

Part 2 - Setup

Requirements

• Microsoft Office 2011, Office 365, or 2016 for Mac
  
• A Microsoft Excel workbook containing data tables. This file can be on a local drive, shared drive, or network location.
• [Optional] You may run queries and genrate reports from any other database application supported by ODBC drivers.
  
• A third-party ODBC driver must be installed on your Mac

I recommend choosing a driver based on the location of the data source file you wish to use. As of this writing there are two companies making  ODBC drivers for Macintosh. Both companies offer superlative customer support and are Mac-friendly.

• For an Excel workbook file or other data source accessible in Finder on a local drive or shared drive I suggest using the Actual Access ODBC driver from ActualTechnologies. This driver works with the following data sources: Microsoft Excel workbooks, Microsoft Access .mdb and .accdb, FileMaker Pro and delmited text files. Actual Technologies makes additional drivers for SQL Server, Sybase, Oracle, and Open Source Databses.
  
• For an Excel workbook or other data source available via a network connection I suggest using the driver from OpenLink. OpenLink offers drivers that connect to a wide variety of data sources including Microsoft SQL Server.
• To use a Mac as a database server consider installing Open Database Connectivity Router Server. Their ODBC client software is free, but you must pay for the server software.

ODBC drivers from these two companies take different approaches to querying data. If you have the luxury of being able to choose a local, shared, or network location for your data source, you may wish to try both drivers to see which works faster with your particular data sources, queries, network speed and server configuration.

Installing an ODBC Driver

OpenLink and Actual Technologies provide clear and easy to follow instructions for installation and setup of their drivers. Be sure to read and follow their instructions and you should have little trouble installing the drivers. The drivers are available in free modes so you can test before buying.