How to Import Shapefiles to Excel

Published on Wednesday, May 4, 2016 by Milos Gregor


Using GIS.XL add-in you can work with ArcGIS shapefiles directly inside the Excel window. You can import, visualize, create, update, export shapefile or use it as a basis for further statistical analysis. In this post, we will show how to import shapefiles to Excel and how to work with multiple layers in the Map Panel.

Shapefile import to Excel using the GIS.XL add-in is a very simple process. In the ribbon toolbar tab, named GIS, just click on the Add Layer button and choose the file from disk. Selected shapefile automatically opens and displays in the add-in Map Panel. After import, you can work with them. For example, you can export the attribute table or vector data (e.g. features geometry) to Excel spreadsheet. The following video is a simple tutorial that shows the basic work with a shapefiles in Excel and includes the following steps:

  • how to import and display shapefile in Excel
  • how to define visual properties of map layers
  • how to setup and display labels
  • how to zoom and pan the map
  • how to work with several map layers
  • how to display attribute data of selected map layer

In addition to shapefiles, it is also possible to import and display the raster data (DEM) or georeferenced images in Excel. Their support (in the current version) is only in the form of import and display in the Map panel.