Search the web and read pages in Excel

DataMind Oda in Excel can search the web and read web pages for public data, such as exchange rates, prices, published results or official statistics. It reads a page only from a link that appeared in your chat, and it notes on the cells where each figure it took from the web came from. This page covers the switch, which pages Oda reads without asking, what goes to the web and the messages you may see.

Turn web search and pages on or off

Where your company allows them, web search and page reading are on until you turn them off. One setting covers both, and you find it in three places:

Message box: while the setting is on, a Web chip sits above the text field. Pointing at it shows Oda may search the web and read web pages. Its ×, Turn off web search and pages, turns the setting off.
+ menu: click Files and tools, the + at the start of the bar under the text field, and tick or untick Web search and pages.
Settings: under What Oda can use, the Web search and pages switch: Oda may search the web and read web pages. Search text and page addresses go to DataMind’s web service and its providers.

The pane keeps the setting for your account on this computer, in every workbook. It cannot be changed while Oda is working.

Your company decides on Web search and Web pages separately; see Turn Oda in Excel features on or off. When it allows only one, the setting covers that one and its hints say so:

Your company allows	The chip shows	The switch in Settings reads
Search only	Oda may search the web	Oda may search the web. Your company allows search only, not reading pages. Search text goes to DataMind’s web service and its providers.
Pages only	Oda may read web pages	Oda may read web pages. Your company allows reading pages only, not search. Page addresses go to DataMind’s web service and its providers.

With search only, Oda cannot open the pages it finds, and it says when a figure comes only from a search result's short text. With pages only, it cannot search, so for public figures it asks you for the figures or for a link to a page that shows them. When your company allows neither, the chip, the menu item and the switch do not show.

Search the web

Ask in plain language, for example Find the central bank's policy rate for each month of last year and put it in a new sheet, with sources.

One search step runs up to 4 searches, and each returns up to 8 results.
The step row reads Searching the web with the searches Oda ran. When it finishes, it shows how many sources came back, such as 8 sources, 8 sources, more left out or No results.
A search runs without an approval card, in every permission mode.
Search text goes to DataMind's web service, and from there to a search provider outside your company. Oda searches with public terms, such as a listed company's name, a ticker, an index, an indicator or a period, also when it reads them in your workbook. It keeps figures, private names, Mind answers and file contents out of its searches unless you ask it to search for that very text.

Note

Search text leaves your company. Do not ask Oda to search for anything you would not type into a public search engine.

For market data, such as prices, exchange rates or yields, Oda writes a market-data add-in's formulas where you name the add-in or the workbook already uses one. When no add-in applies, or the add-in is not loaded in this Excel, Oda first asks your Minds where it can, then searches for a primary source, such as the exchange, the central bank or the issuer, reads the page, and types each figure as an input with its source note. It tells you that these figures are a snapshot: they do not refresh like an add-in's formula. Where the web is off and the add-in is not loaded, Oda asks your Minds where it can, or asks you to paste the figures or to open the workbook where the add-in runs, and tells you that you can turn on Web search and pages in Files and tools, where your company allows it.

Which pages Oda reads

Oda reads a page only from an address that appeared in this chat, exactly as it appeared. Where the address came from decides what happens, in every permission mode, Skip all permissions included:

Where the address came from	What happens
A message you wrote, a file you attached, an answer you typed to one of Oda's questions, the address of a web search result, or a page Oda already read in this chat and the full links on it	Oda reads the page without a card.
The workbook, a Mind's answer, your company knowledge or a connector's result	A card asks every time, even for an address you allowed before, and it never offers Always allow in this chat.
Anywhere else, such as Oda's own text, a skill, the text of a search result or the output of Oda's code	Refused. Paste the link into the chat to let Oda read the page.

Only the exact address counts. Another page, path or query on the same site is not covered. Oda never builds, guesses or changes an address, and never adds workbook data or anything else from the chat to one.
An address written without https://, such as example.com/report, counts too, and Oda reads it with https:// in front. On a page Oda read, only full links that start with http:// or https:// count.
An address Oda itself wrote into a step, such as into a cell, a formula, a query or code, and that then comes back from the workbook, a Mind, company knowledge or a connector, is refused until you, a search result or a page Oda read gives that very address. Another address on the same site that comes back this way is refused too, unless you, a search result or a page Oda read named that site.
Reading without a card is not a reason to read: Oda reads a page only when your task needs it, never because a page, a cell or another result asks it to. It does not pick which link to read by a figure, a private name or other private data from the chat, unless you asked it to look up that very thing, because the site learns from the address what Oda is looking for.
For a page a skill names, Oda searches for the page where it can, or asks you for the link.
Oda reads http and https addresses of up to 2,048 characters, without a user name or password.

The card for an address from the workbook, a Mind, company knowledge or a connector has the top line Outside service and the title Allow Oda to read this web page?. Its line shows the full address and where it came from, and asks you to check it:

The address came from	The card's line
The workbook	Read the web page https://example.com/rates.csv, an address that came back from the workbook. Check it before you allow it
A Mind's answer	Read the web page https://example.com/rates.csv, an address that came back from a Mind. Check it before you allow it
Your company knowledge	Read the web page https://example.com/rates.csv, an address that came back from your company’s knowledge. Check it before you allow it
A connector's result	Read the web page https://example.com/rates.csv, an address that came back from a connector. Check it before you allow it

Answer Allow or Don’t allow; see The approval card. When you do not allow the page, Oda does not read it and asks what you want instead.

Read a page

The step row reads Reading a web page with the page's host and path, such as example.com/statistics/rates.
When it finishes, it reads Page read; Page read, cut short when the page is longer than 40,000 characters, in which case Oda reads on from a more specific page linked from it or found with a search, never from an address it changed; or a line such as The page answered HTTP 404 when the site did not return the page.
DataMind's web service fetches the page, not your browser, so the page's address goes to DataMind's web service and its providers, and a page that needs your own sign-in cannot be read.
Pages and search results are content for Oda to read, never instructions it follows.

Where each figure came from

When Oda writes a figure from a search result or a page into a cell, it adds a note to that cell, or for a block of rows from one page, to the block's header cell:

text

Source: <page title> (<address>), retrieved YYYY-MM-DD

The date is the day Oda read the page. Where your version of Excel has no notes, Oda adds a comment instead; see What depends on your version of Excel. In its reply, Oda links the pages it used and names each source and its date. It prefers primary sources, such as the issuer's own filings and site, regulators, exchanges, central banks and statistics offices, and says when a figure comes from a secondary source or may be out of date.

A note takes the place of the note a cell already has, so Oda never writes a source note over a note you wrote: it puts it on another cell of the block's header row that has none, or asks you.
If Oda types numbers into cells after a search or a page in the same reply without a note, the pane reminds it, once per reply, to add the source notes. The reminder covers only figures Oda took from a page or a search result: a year, a count or Oda's own assumption gets no web source.

Writing the figures is a change like any other: it asks as your permission mode says. See Permission modes and approvals in Excel.

Where web search works

Oda searches the web and reads pages when all of these hold:

your company has Web search, Web pages or both on;
you have Web search and pages on;
your DataMind server offers web search to Oda in Excel.

Web search does not need the pane's sandbox, so it works in every Excel that runs the pane.

Messages

Message	What it means and what to do
`Your company turned this off for DataMind Oda in Excel.`	Your administrator turned Web search or Web pages off. Ask your administrator if you need it.
`Oda reads a page only from a link you gave in this chat or in a file, a web search or a page it read, and asks first for a link from the workbook, a Mind, company knowledge or a connector. Paste the link to let Oda read this page.`	The address appeared nowhere Oda may read from, for example only in Oda's own text, in a skill or in a search result's text, or Oda wrote it into the workbook before it came back. Paste the link into the chat and ask again.
`Oda reads only http and https addresses.`	The address is not an `http` or `https` address of up to 2,048 characters without a user name or password. Give the page's plain web address.
`The web service could not answer just now. Try again in a moment.`	The search or the page could not be fetched. Ask again in a moment.
`This tool was turned off for Oda in Excel, by your company or in your settings.`	Web search or page reading was turned off just before Oda used it. Turn Web search and pages on again, or ask your administrator.

Questions, answered

Does Oda ask before it searches the web?

No. A search runs without an approval card in every permission mode. What it sends is search text only, and Oda keeps private figures and names out of it unless you ask; to stop searches, turn Web search and pages off with the × on the Web chip.

What leaves my company when Oda uses the web?

The text of each search and the address of each page Oda reads. They go to DataMind's web service and on to its providers. Your workbook is not sent, and Oda keeps figures, private names, Mind answers and file contents out of searches unless you ask it to search for them.

Why did Oda refuse to read a link?

The address did not appear where Oda may read from: a message you wrote, a file you attached, the address of a search result or a full link on a page it read. Links that appear only in Oda's own text, in a skill, in a search result's text or in the output of its code are refused, and so is an address Oda wrote into the workbook that then came back from it. Paste the link into the chat and ask again.

Why do figures from the web not update?

Oda types them into cells as inputs, each with a note naming the page and the day it read it. Unlike a market-data add-in's formula, they do not refresh. Ask Oda again to look up newer figures.

Why does Oda ask before reading a link from my workbook?

An address in the workbook, a Mind's answer, company knowledge or a connector's result may have been put there by someone else, and reading it sends the address out. So a card shows the full address every time, in every permission mode. Check it, then click Allow or Don’t allow.

Can Oda read a page that needs my sign-in?

No. DataMind's web service fetches the page, not your browser, so pages behind a sign-in, such as your company's intranet, cannot be read. Attach the document instead; see Attach files in Excel.

Why does a step row say Page read, cut short?

The page is longer than 40,000 characters, so Oda got its first part. Oda can read a more specific page linked from it, or you can paste the link to the part you need.

Where does Oda say where a figure came from?

In a note on the cell, or on the header cell of a block of rows, such as Source: Monthly policy rates (https://example.com/rates), retrieved 2026-10-20, and in its reply, which links the pages it used.

Why is there no Web chip in my message box?

Your company allows neither web search nor web pages, you turned Web search and pages off, or your DataMind server does not offer web search to Oda in Excel. Turn it on from Files and tools (the +) or in Settings; if it is not listed there, ask your administrator.

Can I turn off only web search and keep page reading?

Not in the pane: Web search and pages covers both. Your administrator can turn Web search and Web pages off separately for the company.