The simplest way is to use AutoCAD as the link between Excel and Revit by first linking the Excel file into AutoCAD and then to link the AutoCAD file into Revit.

To do this you can follow the Following process:

First create the Excel file. In this case I have used a sample Excel file that come with Excel 2016. Open Excel and click the New to create a new Excel file.  Look for the Inventory one or any other sample.

Once you click on the sample a dialogue box will appear and click Create as shown.

Save the file on the Desktop or in the directory where your Revit Project is and close Excel. Now open AutoCAD and create a new file. In the new file click the Table icon. Its under the Home tab and Create Panel.

The table command will open. Select the “From a data link’ option and click the link button as shown.

On the Select Link dialogue box click on the ‘Create a new Excel Data Link’ text.

Name the link. I named mine ‘Excel to Revit’ but you can give your link a more specific name like ‘Ironmongery Schedule link’ or ‘Bill of Materials Link’ depending on what Excel file you are linking. Click Ok.

After naming your link you need to select the Excel file by browsing to it. To do this click on the Browse button on the next dialogue box as shown. Browse to the Excel file you created earlier and click Open at the bottom of the browse dialogue box.

Now you’ll return to the previous dialogue box and here you’ll see a preview if its a smallish Excel file. Note the expand button on the bottom right. click it to show more settings.

These setting can be set but I’ll leave them as is for now. Click Ok on all the dialogue boxes.

Now you’ll be asked to place the the Excel import. Place it in your drawing.

Once placed inside AutoCAD please save the drawing in the same directory as where you saved the initial Excel file so that the files are kept together. Now you can close AutoCAD.

Now open your Revit project and create a new Drafting View which is found by going to the View Tab and Create panel. Name the Drafting View and make sure have the view active.

Now go to this newly created Drafting view and insert the AutoCAD drawing by either Linking CAD or Importing CAD. I have imported the AutoCAD drawing in this case so the data will remain static. If you use the Link option, all changes made in AutoCAD file will be taken through to Revit which is a very efficient method in an environment where changes in the Excel file happen often. The workflow to do an update is to save the edited Excel file. Close Excel and open AutoCAD. Make sure the Excel link Is updated and save the AutoCAD drawing. Close AutoCAD and open Revit. In Revit, the changes will automatically be shown but if not for some reason not, go to Manage Tab, Manage Links and Reload the AutoCAD file.

In the screenshot below you can see the linked AutoCAD file that contains the Excel content. Note that only some of the cell formatting came through.