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HersonD's avatar
HersonD
Icon for Helper I rankHelper I
1 year ago
Solved

Display or Embed Excel Sheet in Power BI

Hi, 

Is it possible to Embed or Display an Excel Sheet or range of cells in an Excel to Power BI?

I have share excel file which we edit everyday. I want to display it as it is in the power BI dashboard. 

  • Hi HersonD 

    Yes, you can pin an Excel sheet or a specific range of cells to a Power BI dashboard, but it comes with some limitations:

    1. It updates dynamically: Every time there’s a change in the Excel file, the pinned tile in the Power BI dashboard updates as well. However, it acts only as a static image on the dashboard, which can be clicked to open the Excel file, but it does not support interactive functionality within Power BI.

    2. File storage: The Excel file must be stored either on OneDrive for Business or SharePoint. It cannot be stored locally or on other external storage platforms.

    3. Pinning applies only to dashboards: The pinning feature is only available for dashboards in the Power BI Service, not for embedding directly within a report. So, this functionality won’t work inside a Power BI report—only in the dashboard view.

    This is how it can work :
    1. save the Excel in one drive.
    2. from Power BI service go to the wanted workspace anf upload the Excel:

    3. open the Excel from power bi, select the wanted range, and pin it to a dashboard:

    Result (on dashboard)

    If I update the Excel after refreshing of the dashboard it will update the tile 

    more information about pinning Excel is here :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E11dduMbsbs

    If this post helps, then please consider Accepting it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly

5 Replies

  • Hi HersonD 

    Yes, you can pin an Excel sheet or a specific range of cells to a Power BI dashboard, but it comes with some limitations:

    1. It updates dynamically: Every time there’s a change in the Excel file, the pinned tile in the Power BI dashboard updates as well. However, it acts only as a static image on the dashboard, which can be clicked to open the Excel file, but it does not support interactive functionality within Power BI.

    2. File storage: The Excel file must be stored either on OneDrive for Business or SharePoint. It cannot be stored locally or on other external storage platforms.

    3. Pinning applies only to dashboards: The pinning feature is only available for dashboards in the Power BI Service, not for embedding directly within a report. So, this functionality won’t work inside a Power BI report—only in the dashboard view.

    This is how it can work :
    1. save the Excel in one drive.
    2. from Power BI service go to the wanted workspace anf upload the Excel:

    3. open the Excel from power bi, select the wanted range, and pin it to a dashboard:

    Result (on dashboard)

    If I update the Excel after refreshing of the dashboard it will update the tile 

    more information about pinning Excel is here :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E11dduMbsbs

    If this post helps, then please consider Accepting it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly

    • HersonD's avatar
      HersonD
      Icon for Helper I rankHelper I

      Hi Ritaf1983 ,

       

      Thanks for your help. 

      However, I was planning it to use it in a report. I did not know that dashboard and reports have different functionality until today.

       

       

      • Ritaf1983's avatar
        Ritaf1983
        Icon for Super User rankSuper User

        Hi HersonD 

        Happy to help! 🙂

        Dashboards are "less popular" because they lack interactivity, such as filtering and cross-filtering between visuals. However, they can be a very powerful tool if you need to collaborate across various objects from multiple reports, including Excel.

  • Hi Ritaf1983 ,

    May I ask if it is possible to use dashboards in my workspace as embedded visuals in my Power Bi report?

    No interactivity is fine as long as when I update the dashboard it also updates in my power bi report.

     

    • Ritaf1983's avatar
      Ritaf1983
      Icon for Super User rankSuper User

      Hi HersonD 

      Let’s clarify things: if by "report" you mean a report that you uploaded to Power BI, it actually works the opposite way—not from the dashboard to the report, but from the report to the dashboard.

      In fact, you pin visualizations from various reports to the dashboard canvas, and when you click on a visualization in the dashboard, it simply takes you back to the report (like a link).

      Regarding data refresh, the dashboard will update with the refresh of the semantic model. However, if you change something in the visualization, the dashboard won’t automatically detect the change, and you will need to re-pin the visualization to the dashboard.

      If by "report" you mean Excel, then yes, the data will be added to the dashboard each time you make changes in Excel and save.

      For more information please refer to :

      https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/create-reports/service-dashboards

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqKheazewbo

      +

      the links that I attached in the previous responses

      If this post helps, then please consider Accepting it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly