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Devs
Frequent Visitor
2 days ago
Solved

Loading data from password encrypted Excel file

Hello everyone, 

I have an Excel file that is password protected and I'd like to extract data from it in PowerQuery.

Is it possible to do it with the Excel Connector ?

From my research it seems to be impossible, but all the answers are really old, so I'm asking again just to be sure. 

Also wouldn't it be possible with a bit of Python in PowerBI ? 

 

  • Hi Devs​

    You're not missing anything, it's still not possible with the native Excel Connector, there's no way to supply a password.

    Python can work as a workaround though: in Power BI Desktop, you can decrypt the file with a library like msoffcrypto-tool, then load it into pandas for Power Query to use. Note it only works in Desktop with Python installed, and won't refresh in the Service unless you're on Premium/Fabric with a Python-enabled gateway.

    Is it thoughtful? 👍 A kudos would be appreciated
    🟨 Mark it as a solution to help spread knowledge 💡

    🟩 Let's connect on LinkedIn
    🟧 Feel free to join this LinkedIn Group for Data Enthusiasts.

1 Reply

  • Hi Devs​

    You're not missing anything, it's still not possible with the native Excel Connector, there's no way to supply a password.

    Python can work as a workaround though: in Power BI Desktop, you can decrypt the file with a library like msoffcrypto-tool, then load it into pandas for Power Query to use. Note it only works in Desktop with Python installed, and won't refresh in the Service unless you're on Premium/Fabric with a Python-enabled gateway.

    Is it thoughtful? 👍 A kudos would be appreciated
    🟨 Mark it as a solution to help spread knowledge 💡

    🟩 Let's connect on LinkedIn
    🟧 Feel free to join this LinkedIn Group for Data Enthusiasts.