XLYahoo.xla - Yahoo! Historical Data Download
There are several (free) sources of historical data on the web. Two sites in particular come to mind: MSN and Yahoo!. MSN allows you to download historical quotes (daily, weekly, monthly) and several days of intra-day data. Yahoo! has end-of-day data for most stocks and indexes. XLYahoo allows you to define a portfolio and download historical (daily, weekly or monthly) quotes from Yahoo! Finance into a workbook that will contain one worksheet for each ticker symbol.
XLYahoo is accessed from the XLTrader drop menu. There are two options: "Download Data" (which brings up the download form) or "Show Portfolios". There also links to a place to find ticker symbols on the Yahoo! website and a link to this website. By selecting "Show Portfolios" a spreadsheet (XLYPortfolios.xls) is made visible which contains predefined portfolios. You can modify these portfolios, delete them or add to them, then save your changes and choose "Hide Portfolios".
Downloading Data
The Historical Data Downloader form is displayed by selecting the "Download Data" option from the menu XLYahoo menu. This form allows you to define a temporary portfolio or choose a predefined portfolio from the drop down menu. Here you also specify the desired begining and ending (default today) calender dates. The last thing you must do before making sure a connection to the inernet is open and pressing the download button is to specify the types of bars you want downloaded: daily (default), weekly or monthly.
In the lower left corner of the Historical Data Downloader form is a drop box which contains all of the names of the portfolio that are defined in the first column of the XLYportfolios.xls spreadsheet. When you select a portfolio, the ticker symbols defined in the rest of that row are added to the "Temporary Portfolios" list of symbols. *Warning* Make sure the ticker symbols are valid before attempting to download data.
You can specify the calender dates by clicking on the calendar icon(s) next to the input box. This brings up a calender form which is self explanatory.
Portfolios (and URLS)
This picture shows how portfolios are defined on PORTFOLIOS page of the XLYPortfolios.xls spreadsheet. The portfolio name (in column A) can be anything you want. Its an ordinary spreadsheet. You can add, change or delete unwanted profolios.
Yahoo sometimes changes the URLs where historical data is downloaded from. They've done it before and they'll do it again. XLYahoo is easily fixed it stops working because Yahoo changed URLS. Also, Its set up for the US, but different countrys have different URLS. At the bottom of the XLYPortfolios.xls spreadsheet there are two tabs. When you click on the URLS tab you can specify in column B, the location where to download data from.
We are at the mercy of Yahoo. There is no guarantee they will continue to provide free historical data. Get XLYahoo by joining XLTrader-Talk Google group today!.
XLTrader Add-ins, Templates, etc. work together seamlessly turning Microsoft Excel© into a powerful yet inexpensive Technical Analysis platform. All of the XLTrader add-ins together with the (HLC_Chart.xlt) template to make Technical Analysis as easy as pointing and clicking! 
You can get get XLTrader by joining XLTrader-Talk google group. The software is a group membership benefit.
Data Downloader
