[PostgreSQL35W] Driver=PostgreSQL Unicode Description=My PostgreSQL DB Database=mydb Servername=localhost Port=5432 UID=postgres PWD=secret SSLmode=require Driver=PostgreSQL Unicode;Server=192.168.1.100;Port=5432;Database=mydb;UID=user;PWD=pass; Common Use Cases | Use Case | Example | |----------|---------| | Business Intelligence | Connect Power BI / Tableau to PostgreSQL | | Microsoft Office | Pull data into Excel (Data → Get Data → From ODBC) | | Custom applications | C# .NET apps using System.Data.Odbc | | Legacy system integration | Old VB6, Access, or Delphi apps that only speak ODBC | | ETL tools | SSIS, Pentaho, Talend with PostgreSQL as source/target | Important Configuration Options Many connection problems are solved by setting these connection parameters :
[Application] <--> [ODBC Driver Manager] <--> [PostgreSQL ODBC Driver] <--> [PostgreSQL Server] The standard driver is psqlODBC (maintained by the PostgreSQL community). It is available on Windows, Linux, and macOS. psql odbc
PSQL ODBC refers to the use of the ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) standard to connect client applications to a PostgreSQL database. While "PSQL" often colloquially means PostgreSQL's interactive terminal ( psql ), in this context it means enabling external programs—like Excel, Power BI, Tableau, C#, Python (via pyodbc), or legacy systems—to query and modify a PostgreSQL database using a standardized, database-agnostic API. How It Works ODBC acts as a middleware layer. An application calls ODBC functions (e.g., SQLExecDirect ), the ODBC Driver Manager passes the request to the PostgreSQL ODBC driver , which translates it into PostgreSQL’s native wire protocol (libpq) and sends it to the database server. Results flow back the same way. Results flow back the same way