[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.
[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 : 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
cursor = conn.cursor() cursor.execute("SELECT id, name FROM users WHERE active = true") for row in cursor.fetchall(): print(row.id, row.name) psqlODBC is a robust, community-supported bridge that allows virtually any ODBC-compliant application to work with PostgreSQL. While it does not expose all advanced PostgreSQL features, it is the standard choice for cross-platform, database-agnostic connectivity—especially in Windows-centric or legacy environments. Always prefer the Unicode driver, test with a simple SELECT 1 , and tune performance options for production use. For official documentation, see: psqlODBC on PostgreSQL Wiki Always prefer the Unicode driver