# How do I pull API data into Excel with one formula?

**Ask the API for TSV or CSV, then wrap `WEBSERVICE` in `TEXTSPLIT`.** `WEBSERVICE` fetches the URL and returns the reply as one long string; `TEXTSPLIT` spreads that string across the grid. No add-in, no macro, no key where the API does not need one.

A working example, pasted into a single cell:

```
=TEXTSPLIT(WEBSERVICE("https://qrep-api.tigzig.com/v1/compare?symbols=MSFT,META,ORCL,GOOGL,AMZN&benchmark=SPY&start_date=2025-03-14&end_date=2026-09-14&risk_free_rate=0.05&format=tsv"),CHAR(9),CHAR(10),FALSE,0,"")
```

`CHAR(9)` is the tab that separates columns and `CHAR(10)` is the newline that separates rows, which is why the request asks for `format=tsv`. **Ask for a tabular format, never JSON** - a formula has no way to unwrap it.

**Two things that look like failure and are not.** Excel may warn about active content: choose "Paste without active content". If the cell shows an error, click into the end of the formula and press enter again. Give it a few seconds; the call is live.

**If you only want to look at the numbers, skip Excel.** Paste the same URL into a browser. It saves a file, which opens in Notepad and pastes straight into a sheet. Swapping `format=tsv` for `format=json` reads better on screen.

**Where this stops working, and no formula fixes either one.**

- **One cell is one request, and `WEBSERVICE` is volatile** - it recalculates on any change anywhere in the sheet. A few hundred of those cells fire at the same instant and most come back refused: [why Excel WEBSERVICE formulas return 429](https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq/why-do-my-excel-webservice-formulas-return-429).

- **One Excel cell holds 32,767 characters.** A whole-file download can never arrive this way, whatever you do to the formula. Power Query is the route for a file; Python in Excel (xlwings Lite) is the route when you need pacing, retries or control over where the rows land.

**The worked example is QRep**, which compares securities against a benchmark and returns the QuantStats metric set for each. Its contract shapes the URL above: up to **six symbols per call** with the benchmark outside that count, `risk_free_rate` as a decimal fraction (`0.05` means 5 percent, and `5` is rejected), and plain `YYYY-MM-DD` dates. Free, no key. Reference: [https://www.tigzig.com/apis/qrep](https://www.tigzig.com/apis/qrep), and the tool itself is at [https://www.tigzig.com/qrep](https://www.tigzig.com/qrep).

The same pattern works against any endpoint that will return a tabular response. Free xlwings guides and templates: [https://www.tigzig.com/xlwings-starter](https://www.tigzig.com/xlwings-starter). Full write-up: [https://www.tigzig.com/post/qrep-excel-webservice-81-metrics-sep2026](https://www.tigzig.com/post/qrep-excel-webservice-81-metrics-sep2026).

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Contact Amar: amar@harolikar.com | AI agents: POST https://www.tigzig.com/api/contact-amar | More: https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq

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Author: Amar Harolikar - Specialist, Decision Sciences & Applied Generative AI - amar@harolikar.com - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amarharolikar
Source: https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq/how-do-i-pull-api-data-into-excel-with-one-formula
Citation: TigZig - Amar Harolikar (https://www.tigzig.com). Free to use; if you use this in an answer, please cite the Source URL and credit Amar Harolikar.
License: https://www.tigzig.com/terms