> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.consile.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Connect Excel > Approve Consile at Microsoft with your work account. Excel only uses Microsoft's read permissions. A Microsoft administrator may have to approve the first time. The access is renewed automatically and can be revoked. *[Læs siden på dansk](https://docs.consile.ai/connect/forbind-excel.md)* You connect Excel by logging in at Microsoft with your work or school account and approving Consile. Consile stores the resulting access encrypted per customer. Your AI never sees the access itself, only answers to your questions. See [Excel](https://docs.consile.ai/en/connectors/excel.md) for what the connector can do. > [!NOTE] > > You need an active Excel subscription in the [portal](https://app.consile.ai), or > the system must be included in your plan ([the free edition](https://docs.consile.ai/en/portal/free-edition.md) > or [the Consile Studio membership](https://docs.consile.ai/en/portal/membership.md)). You must log in with a > Microsoft work or school account that can open the workbooks in OneDrive and > SharePoint your AI should be able to read. Your AI > ([Claude](https://docs.consile.ai/en/connect/connect-claude.md) or [ChatGPT](https://docs.consile.ai/en/connect/connect-chatgpt.md)) > can be added before or after. > [!NOTE] > > The connection applies to your whole Consile account. All users with access to > Excel in Consile read through the Microsoft user that is connected, and so see the > same files, even if a colleague connected it. Anyone on the team can connect an > agreement that is not connected yet. Only an administrator can reconnect it or > disconnect it, because that changes the connection for everyone. If an > administrator reconnects with a different Microsoft account, it replaces the > existing connection. ## Choose the right Microsoft user The Microsoft user you log in with decides what your AI can see: the workbooks in OneDrive and SharePoint that the user can open. When your AI searches "your OneDrive" or lists the recently used files, it is the connected user's OneDrive and files. So connect with the user whose files your AI should work with. Everyone with access to Excel in Consile sees the same files through that user. ## How to connect **1. Open the connector in the portal** Go to Excel in the [portal](https://app.consile.ai). Click **Connect now** at the top of the page, or **Connect** next to the agreement on the **Connections** card. The portal calls each connection to the system an agreement. Right after the purchase, the **Connect Excel** button on the **Subscription activated** page takes you to that page. If you have not accepted Consile's terms yet, you are asked to do so first. **2. Authorise access** In the **Connect Microsoft** step, the portal shows the three permissions Consile asks Microsoft for: `Files.Read.All`, `User.Read` and `offline_access`. Click **Authorise access**. You are sent to Microsoft's login. **3. Log in with your work account** Log in with the Microsoft work or school account that has access to the files. Microsoft refuses a login with a personal Microsoft account. **4. Confirm with Microsoft** Microsoft shows that Consile is asking to read the files you have access to, read your profile and keep that access. Confirm to continue. You are then sent back to the portal. If Microsoft asks for an administrator's approval instead, see [If Microsoft asks for an administrator](#if-microsoft-asks-for-an-administrator). > [!TIP] > > The portal shows **Excel is connected**, and the agreement shows as > **Connected**. On the connector's page, the agreement is named after the > Microsoft user, for example ` (@example.com)`. Your AI can now > read your workbooks. If you have not already added the address > `https://mcp.consile.ai/excel/mcp` in your AI, do it now. > [!TIP] > > The connection is shared by the whole company, so colleagues do not have to > connect Excel again. An administrator gives them access under **Team**, and each > colleague adds the address in their own AI and logs in with their own Consile > login. See [Team](https://docs.consile.ai/en/portal/team.md). ## If Microsoft asks for an administrator In many organizations, ordinary users may not approve an app that wants to read files themselves. Then Microsoft stops at the login and asks for an administrator's approval. This is a Microsoft setting in your organization, not an error at Consile. The easiest way is for a Microsoft administrator in your organization to connect first: 1. The administrator clicks **Connect** in the Consile portal and logs in with their own work account. 2. On Microsoft's consent screen, the administrator ticks the box for consent on behalf of the whole organization and approves. 3. After that, the user who should be connected can complete the steps above without being stopped. If the administrator's own user should not stay connected, disconnect and connect again with the right user. If your organization has turned on Microsoft's admin consent workflow, you can instead send a request from Microsoft's login, which the administrator approves in the Microsoft Entra admin center. Afterwards, connect again from the portal. If you are stuck, write to [support@consile.dk](mailto:support@consile.dk). ## What exactly am I approving? > [card] Reading only > > `Files.Read.All` gives read access to the files the user can open, and > `User.Read` to the user's own profile. Both are pure read permissions at > Microsoft, so the access cannot change anything. `offline_access` gives the > renewable access that keeps the connection alive. > [card] Microsoft 365 files only > > The approval applies to files and the profile in Microsoft 365, not to mail, > calendar or Teams messages. If Microsoft's approval contains access to anything > other than Microsoft Graph, which is Microsoft's API for Microsoft 365, the > connection is refused. > [card] Encrypted per customer > > Consile stores the access encrypted with a key that applies only to your > account, and never logs it. It is renewed automatically in the background. The > contents of your workbooks are not stored at Consile. > [card] Your AI never sees it > > Your AI is never given the access itself, only answers to your questions. ## The access is renewed, but the connection can stop Consile renews the access automatically, so you do not have to reconnect during normal use. > [!WARNING] > > If the renewal fails, or Microsoft refuses the access (for example because > Consile has been removed in your Microsoft organization), your AI is told that > the connection must be set up again from the Consile portal. The portal can still > show **Connected**, because the stored access is still there. How an administrator reconnects: * If the agreement says **Access revoked**, click **Reconnect**, and follow the steps above. * Otherwise: click the menu (the three dots) next to the agreement on the **Connections** card, choose **Disconnect**, and confirm with **Disconnect**. Then click **Connect**, and follow the steps above. * You can also ask your AI for a new connection link. Ask in the connector that belongs to the agreement (for example `excel-2`), so the link connects exactly that agreement. > [!NOTE] > > If your AI is instead told that Excel answered 403, the connected user lacks > access to the file, or your administrator has not approved the permission the > tool needs. Reconnecting does not help. Ask a Microsoft 365 administrator for > help. ## If the connection fails If the approval does not succeed, the portal shows **Connection was not completed** and a technical reason. The most common ones: * `token_exchange_failed`: Microsoft did not send back a valid approval, typically because you cancelled at Microsoft. Try again, and approve the access. * `unexpected_scope`: the approval contained permissions outside Microsoft Graph. Try again. * `no_refresh_token`: Microsoft did not return renewable access. Try again. * `state_expired`, `invalid_state` or `state_unknown_or_consumed`: more than 10 minutes passed, or the same approval was used twice (for example with the browser's back button). Start over in the portal. If Microsoft did not grant all the permissions Consile asks for, the connection is not completed either. Try again, and approve all the permissions, or ask an administrator for help (see above). Click **Try again** to get back to the connector's page, and start over with **Connect now** or **Connect**. If that does not help, write to [support@consile.dk](mailto:support@consile.dk) and include the technical reason. ## Multiple Microsoft users One agreement reads through one Microsoft user. If your AI should also read as another Microsoft user, for example in another Microsoft tenant (another organization at Microsoft), you add one more agreement. **1. Add an agreement** Open Excel in the portal. On the **Connections** card, an administrator clicks **Add agreement (99.50 kr/mo.)**. The agreement is added to the existing subscription and charged pro rata for the rest of the period. **2. Connect the agreement** When the new agreement is ready (typically after a few seconds), click **Connect** next to it and complete the steps above with the other Microsoft user. **3. Add the address in your AI** Each agreement has its own address, for example `https://mcp.consile.ai/excel-2/mcp`. Copy it from the card, and add it as an extra connector in your AI. Each Microsoft user can only be connected on one agreement. If you log in with a user that is already connected on another agreement, Consile updates the existing agreement instead, and the page says *Note: This account was already connected as another portal, so that connection was refreshed instead. The new slot is still free.* The word portal here means agreement. Sign out of Microsoft in the browser, or choose the other account at Microsoft, and connect the new agreement with the other user. Under [the Consile Studio membership](https://docs.consile.ai/en/portal/membership.md#one-more-agreement-in-a-system) and in [the free edition](https://docs.consile.ai/en/portal/free-edition.md), other rules apply to adding an agreement. The **Connections** card shows what applies to you. An administrator removes an agreement with the menu next to it: choose **Remove the agreement**, and confirm with **Remove agreement**. If you remove an agreement that is not the last one, the last agreement moves up into the free slot and takes its address (for example `https://mcp.consile.ai/excel-2/mcp` instead of `https://mcp.consile.ai/excel-3/mcp`). You must update the address in your AI. You remove the last agreement by cancelling the subscription under **Subscription**. ## Revoke access You can remove the access again at any time: * **In the portal:** an administrator clicks the menu (the three dots) next to the agreement on the **Connections** card, chooses **Disconnect** and confirms with **Disconnect**. The stored access is deleted at Consile right away. The subscription continues until an administrator cancels it under **Subscription**. If you have several agreements, an administrator can also remove an agreement entirely with **Remove the agreement**. Its access is then deleted too. * **At Microsoft:** the approval stays in your Microsoft organization until you remove it yourselves. If you also want to remove it, an administrator does so under **Enterprise apps** in the Microsoft Entra admin center. Shortly after, the connector stops working, but the portal can still show it as **Connected** until you disconnect it in the portal. * **When the subscription ends:** if you cancel Excel under **Subscription**, Consile automatically deletes the stored access when the subscription ends. If a payment is only late, the tools do not work in the meantime, but the stored access is kept, so the connection works again without a new approval once the payment is in place. More about data processing in [Security & data](https://docs.consile.ai/en/essentials/security-and-data.md). This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.