Forum Discussion

daveedd's avatar
daveedd
Helper II
4 years ago

Adding to embedded data

Hi all,

 

QQ.  I have a data set that is currently having to link to an Excel file, for frustrating reasons I can't get around.

 

I have a job which appends any new / updated records to that excel file each day, then the Power Bi report runs.

 

I was wondering if there's a way to embed the data within Power Bi rather than an Excel file and continually add to it each day.

 

Many thanks

Need Help

6 Replies

  • speedramps's avatar
    speedramps
    Super User
    4 years ago

    Hi daveedd

     

    Consider creating a Power Flow which appends the excel file and then triggers Power BI rest API refresh. 

  • daveedd's avatar
    daveedd
    Helper II
    4 years ago

    speedramps  yeah that's exactly what I have in place today.  I was just wondering if there was a way to neaten it up by having it all in power bi rather than excel

     

    • speedramps's avatar
      speedramps
      Super User
      4 years ago

      Hi again Daveedd

       

      If you are desperate to "neaten" things on Power Bi then read about "incremental-refresh"

      https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/incremental-refresh-overview 

       

      I prefer not to use Excel as a data source and do all the incremental refresh upfront on the source system.

       

      However, when clients email Excel files once, twice or more a day or week then I find the Power Flow is a great way of appending the files on SharePoint to one big file and then trigger a Power BI REST API to refresh. This gives you a lot more audit trail and control. You can keep a history of each file in a folder and send notification emails when the update has been successful or failed. Also if the client wants to retract any files then you can easily add that retrcation logic into a Power Flow but can't add it to a Power Bi incremental-refresh.

       

      Consider carefully, if you have a Power Flow in place today and it ain't' broke then don't fix it.

      I am an unpaid Power BI volunteer so please click the thumbs up if you like me helping you and click solved if I have solve your problem. 

       

      Warm regards, speedramps

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Not applicable
    4 years ago

    Hi daveedd ,

     

    Power BI Desktop makes the connection to the data source. It sounds like you want to use Power BI Desktop itself as a data source, entering data is a choice to import data directly into Power BI Desktop. However, enter data also has a data size limit, so it is more suitable to connect to an Excel file.

     

     

    Best Regards,

    Stephen Tao

     

    If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

  • speedramps's avatar
    speedramps
    Super User
    4 years ago

    I helped you, now please can you help me with kudos.

    I am a unpaid Power BI volunteer.

    Please click the thumbs up and Accept as Solution for taking time to help you. 😁

     

  • speedramps's avatar
    speedramps
    Super User
    4 years ago

    I helped you, now please can you help me with kudos.

    I am a unpaid Power BI volunteer.

    Please click the thumbs up and Accept as Solution for taking time to help you.
    Thank you 😁