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gints's avatar
gints
New Member
10 years ago

Appending data from XLS files

Hi All,

 

I am starting our using PowerBI, and quite a novice in BI in general.

 

I have a data dump from an operational system that runs over night, creating a new XLS file each day, always in the same format, with a naming format of XXXXXXX_DDMMYYYY.XLS, first row of headers, then !15k lines of data.

 

What is the easiest way, either in or out of PowerBI, for me to be able to append the latest data to a larger data set as it becomes available? I want to build this data set progressively to then run analysis.

 

Should I be doing this with PowerBI, or using other tools to generate the dataset, then PowerBI to analyse? Any tips/tutorials would be great.

 

Regan

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2 Replies

  • Greg_Deckler's avatar
    Greg_Deckler
    Community Champion
    10 years ago

    Sounds to me like you want to use an Append query whose source is a Folder if that makes sense. Couple questions, is that the only XLS file in the folder that day or do these files accrue in that folder? There have been multiple threads in the past on similar issues but to get to the right answer, just need to know a few details. Regardless, Power BI Desktop's Power Query tools should be able to get you there. There is always the option of using something like SSIS to import into a central database as well.

    • gints's avatar
      gints
      New Member
      10 years ago

      Thanks smoupre,

       

      At the moment, the files get added overnight to a shared drive and accrue in the foler.

       

      I would most likely transfer them to a local storage, and the intent would be for them to accrue, so I would only be looking to add a file if it hadn't been added before.

       

      Gints