CSV hosted on OneDrive for Business as data source for Power BI desktop

[sergey_shvets]

Hi! 

I have a local report that I built as a proof of concept in Power BI desktop that uses a couple of CSVs exported from other sources. Everything works great and I like what I got so far. Now, I want to setup automatic update for this report and here is where I'm stuck. 

1) I uploaded my files to OneDrive business and were able to load them using Power BI Service online, but only one by one. Is there a way to gather them as one data source? 

2) I tried to import CSV file to Power BI desktop and failed. I've opened my CSV file from OneDrive using Excel for desktop, looked into the URL of the file and added it as a Web Source. It gave me credentials window and I've chosen "Organizational Account" and entered my OneDrive creds there. When trying to proceed with adding creds it says that "Unable to authenticate with this credentials".  

3) More general question: it is unclear to me if I add data source from OneDrive in PowerBI Desktop and then publish a report to the PowerBI Service, will it actually update files from OneDrive or I'll need to do that manually anyways? 

In short, here is what I want to achieve: 

1) Setup scripts that will do daily exports of outlined CSVs and upload them somewhere for Power BI to access. 

2) Power BI Service will update data and tiles on the regular basis and show the report to the people with access.

3) I'll need to do changes to the report and enhance it over time, so I need a way to get latest state and data from Power BI Service and be able to do some changes and Publish updated report to the Power BI Service and save all the refresh procedures and access for the people who has access to see it. 

Any tip would be helpful!

Thanks,

Sergey

[v-ljerr-msft]

Hi @sergey_shvets,

Could you try the solution below to see if it works in your scenairo? 

1. Upload your CSV files to OneDrive for Business.

2. In Power BI Desktop, get data from uploaded CSV files on OneDrive.

3. Save and upload the .PBIX file to OneDrive for Business.

3. In Power BI Service, click Get Data ->Files-> OneDrive-Business, then check the uploaded .PBIX file.

Regards

[GilbertQ]

Hi @sergey_shvets

Have you had a look at this blog post from Microsoft explaining how to do this from Power BI desktop?

I think that this would solve your issue?

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/powerbi-desktop-use-onedrive-business-links/

[sergey_shvets]

Thanks for reply @GilbertQ, I tried this and I'm not able to get it working for some reason. I described it under point 2 in the original post. I also confused how this kind of setup will work for updating report inside the Power BI service itself? 

[GilbertQ]

Hi @sergey_shvets

It should work as expected I am not sure why it is not connecting to your OneDrive for Business.

As once it is connected it then will not need the Gateway to refresh the data because it should be seeing the Source data as coming from OneDrive for Business.