Parsing the XML data from RSS Feeds in Excel
RSS feeds come in the standard XML (extensible markup language) format. Information from RSS feeds can be parsed out in an Excel spreadsheet.
Begin by using the WEBSERVICE formula to import the data from an RSS file. Put the url for the RSS in quotes like this:
. . . this will pull the data into a single cell.
The FILTERXML formula can then be used to refer to the cell with the WEBSERVICE formula, and then search for particular parts of the XML data. When the formula is entered like this:
=FILTERXML($A$1,"//item/title")
. . . it will pull out each of the titles used in the data. In order to get all of the titles from the XML data, select a range of cells, enter the formula - using an absolute reference to the cell with the WEBSERVICE formula, and then entering the formula as an array formula by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER.
