Forum Discussion
Automatic Data Refresh - How to do it?
You can achieve this by schedule refresh for please follow the link
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/refresh-scheduled-refresh
The main purpose of Power BI Desktop is to build reports. The Power BI Service (online) is where reporting is viewed from.
As mh2587 mentions, it's possible to set up a scheduled refresh cycle to keep the online reports up to date automatically. This scheduled refresh is like clicking refresh in the desktop app but updates the data stored online (but not your local PBIX file) and prevents you from having to republish whenever you want to update the data.
To bring the desktop file up to date, you click refresh in the PBIX or download a copy from the online service. There usually isn't much need to keep the PBIX always up to date since that file is generally used for building a report rather than viewing and sharing it.
The main purpose of Power BI Desktop is to build reports. The Power BI Service (online) is where reporting is viewed from.
As mh2587 mentions, it's possible to set up a scheduled refresh cycle to keep the online reports up to date automatically. This scheduled refresh is like clicking refresh in the desktop app but updates the data stored online (but not your local PBIX file) and prevents you from having to republish whenever you want to update the data.
To bring the desktop file up to date, you click refresh in the PBIX or download a copy from the online service. There usually isn't much need to keep the PBIX always up to date since that file is generally used for building a report rather than viewing and sharing it.
AlexisOlson Thank you! This makes clear sense, really appreciate it!
AlexisOlson I note there is a refresh button on the top right. Am I assuming correctly that this coudl immediately refresh everything outside of the scheduled refresh, IF my manager clicks this on his end?
Pages can be left open over multiple refresh periods. That button is there to make sure the visuals are reflecting the most recent data refresh (rather than whatever the data was when the page was initially opened) but doesn't kick off a new data set refresh.
There are other possibilities in addition to a scheduled refresh. DirectQuery is one approach but isn't compatible with an Excel source. One method I've used to automatically keep reports up to date with Excel sources is to store the Excel file in SharePoint and set up a data flow that triggers a dataset refresh in the Power BI service when the Excel file is modified (similar to the steps in this post but using a SharePoint file rather than a SharePoint list).
