Excel 2007 Web Data

From the Excel developers at Microsoft, the Excel 2007 Web Data Add-In allows you to use websites as Excel data sources. From Excel's “Data” tab, the Add-In lets you enter Google Finance tracking data down to the specific stock market section via its “Capture Data” feature. Upon capturing, the plugin embeds a sheet at the bottom of the Excel window. Double-clicking this sheet automatically collects additional information -- such as company names, daily market changes and rankings, net worth and annual revenue -- for your spreadsheet. Unlike other plugins, the Web Data Add-In works with numerous types of websites, not just financial sites. Microsoft offers this plugin for free download at Microsoft Research.

Stock Market Functions

As its name implies, Randy Harmelink's Stock Market Functions Add-In for Excel focuses squarely on integrating Web-derived stock market info into the spreadsheet software. This plugin touts numerous customization features for extracting data from Google Finance and categorizing it according to analyst recommendations, enterprise value or other parameters. In addition to Google Finance, you can set SMF to pull data from other online sources, such as Yahoo Finance, MSN, Business Week, Reuters or Morningstar. Harmelink offers this app for no-cost download via the program's official Yahoo Groups page.

Edgeseeker

Like Stock Market Functions, the Edgeseeker Add-In for Microsoft Excel downloads and analyzes stock market data, importing it from Google Finance or other sites, such as Yahoo Finance. Imported information includes pull price, dividend, fundamental and company data, which appears directly in your Excel spreadsheet. Unlike the Excel 2007 Web Data Add-In and SMF, however, Edgeseeker allows you to merge multiple online data sources and display the Excel results instantly. Free download sites such as CNet's Download.com offer Edgeseeker at no cost.

Other Plugins and Apps

The Web Data Add-In, SMF and Edgeseeker aren't the only players in the Google Finance and Excel plugin ballpark. For example, the free Excel to Google Checkout Shopping Cart from RapidShop lets you build your shopping cart from Excel, exporting it via pure HTML and enabling you to accept payment via Google Checkout. Although it doesn't boast Excel compatibility, the My Portfolio app from Symbian Guru brings your Google Finance portfolio to your mobile phone, so you can update and share your port on the go.