Forum Discussion

CraigSchulz's avatar
CraigSchulz
Helper II
7 years ago
Solved

Get Data "From Folder" from Sharepoint Folder

Has anyone had any luck getting data using the from "Sharepoint Folder" option? When I try to point to the folder it tells me I need to put the URL for the Sharepoint root in the box. When I point to the Sharepoint root it gives me no way to get to the desired folder so that only the files of the same type in the folder that I want to read in show up. Very frustrating!

- Craig

  • Hi CraigSchulz

    After researching, i haven't found any way to connect directly to Sharepoint Folder as you described.

    A well-known way is using "Sharepoint Folder" connector and selecting your desired folder from the displaying list of folders' path.

    Combining Excel Files hosted on a SharePoint folder with Power BI

    After we connect to sharepoint successfully, we’ll be able to see all of the files from all of the folders that we have access to in that specific site.

    This might be a pretty long list, so let’s do some filtering on the “Folder Path” column and select the folder where your data is being stored so you only get the files from it.

     

    Best Regards

    Maggie

12 Replies

  • v-juanli-msft's avatar
    v-juanli-msft
    Community Support

    Hi CraigSchulz

    After researching, i haven't found any way to connect directly to Sharepoint Folder as you described.

    A well-known way is using "Sharepoint Folder" connector and selecting your desired folder from the displaying list of folders' path.

    Combining Excel Files hosted on a SharePoint folder with Power BI

    After we connect to sharepoint successfully, we’ll be able to see all of the files from all of the folders that we have access to in that specific site.

    This might be a pretty long list, so let’s do some filtering on the “Folder Path” column and select the folder where your data is being stored so you only get the files from it.

     

    Best Regards

    Maggie

    • yob_ymmit's avatar
      yob_ymmit
      Regular Visitor

      This GET FULL FILE LIST > FILTER FILE LIST BY FOLDER NAME process works for me.

      • DouweMeer's avatar
        DouweMeer
        Impactful Individual

        Had the same issue. However, my site wasn't xxx.sharepoint but rather share.xxx.

         

        My "Solution" was by mapping a network drive to the location you want. Then refer to this drive. It is not fool proof, but it does the trick. I haven't found a way to fix it without an intermediar. 

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Not applicable

    Even am facing issues while using SharePoint Folder option. I am trying to access a folder in OneDrive , but I am not able to actually get the correct URL to input . Can some one help please ?

     

    When I click on Get Data -> Sharepoint Folder 

     

    Input URL as https://[companyname]-my.sharepoint.com/ -> this works , but doesnt list the folders that I am looking for.

     

    This is the actual URL of my One Drive folder which I need to access through Power BI.

    https://[companyname]-my.sharepoint.com/personal/[username]_[company_name]_com/Documents/[MyFolderName] . Can you tell me how to derive the URL that I need to input in Power BI Share point folder option ?

    • dpombal's avatar
      dpombal
      Post Partisan

      I am having same issue how to connect sharepoint folder ?

    • CraigSchulz's avatar
      CraigSchulz
      Helper II

      Thanks for the quick response. I had just used https://xxx.sharepoint.com/. Did not put in the "/sites/". And what does the final "xxx" stand arepresent? 

       

      When I do as described above I get a list of files similar to what you indicate in your response - a list of many different files and file types. The thing is, my purpose in connecting to a folder is to have a PBI query pull all the files in the folder into one table in PBI, as discussed by Rob Collie and Avichal Singh in their book Power Pivot and Power BI, 2nd Edition. It seems, therefore, that I need to have a folder populated with files all of the same type and construction, readable by PBI, xlsx of csv files for insance. Then it appears I need to have PBI point to that folder, not the root sharepoint directory. 

       

      Does the "xxx" at the end of your format represent the folder name? Sorry if I am being dense. The book does say it can be done using a Sharepoint folder IF YOU HAVE IT MAPPED AS A DRIVE. But that seems to defeat the purpose of having a PBI project that is portable and my client can continue to use if I am no longer in the picture with them.

       

      - Craig

       

       

      • RMDNA's avatar
        RMDNA
        Solution Sage

        The link should be https://[tenant].sharepoint.com/sites/[SharePoint group name].

         

        Once you're connected, it should list all files available in that group, regardless of location. Then you can use the "Combine and Edit" button to go from there. You don't need to do any filtering by filetype - everything is handled by the combination process.

         

         

         

        This isn't mapped, I'm just connecting directly; as long as the client has access to the SharePoint, everything should function just fine.

  • But what if you don't have access to the ROOT of the site, but only have access to the Documents/ folder? Power BI requires a root URL, but I don't have access to that. How can you link directly to the folder or excel file???