How to connect Outlook (attaches) and power bi

[france_scone]

hello everyone,

i am new and this is my first post: thank you for all the answers you offer available in this forum, maybe i owe my last job promotion to you.

but let's get to the core! 😂

1. every day I receive an automatic report from an external provider (imagine DHL, imagine UPS etc) that provides some data.
2. I want to connect Power BI with just this email, to be able to create an immediate dashboard on the excel content. (Excel is a simple warehouse summary with various aggregated data)

how do i do this?

forewarning:

- the outlook account and powerbi are corporate - truly limited (privacy, critical data, privileges bla bla bla)- i can request various privileges, but i need to understand from whom and from where
- i would like to avoid the classic ‘drag and drop’ of the attachment into a sharepoint or onedrive folder

- I would like it to update automatically on receipt of each new mail

Thanks and good work everyone!
Francesco

[Sahir_Maharaj · Accepted solution]

Hello @france_scone,

Congrats on the promotion!

To connect Outlook email attachments to Power BI and automate the refresh, I believe you'll need to set up an automated workflow that captures the Excel attachment and makes it available to Power BI.

Since you're in a corporate environment, the most robust and secure approach I recommend is to use Power Automate in combination with OneDrive / SharePoint - even if you want to avoid it, it's currently the only supported method I'm aware of for auto-refreshing files sent via Outlook in Power BI.

Hope this helps!

[v-pnaroju-msft · Accepted solution]

Thankyou, @Sahir_Maharaj, for your response.

Hi @france_scone,

We appreciate your inquiry on the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.

Further to the response provided by @Sahir_Maharaj, and based on my understanding, to connect Power BI with an Excel file received automatically via Outlook without manually transferring the files to SharePoint or OneDrive, one possible solution is to use Power Automate in conjunction with Azure Blob Storage.

Kindly follow the steps outlined below, which may assist in resolving the issue:

1. Request your IT team to create an Azure Blob Storage container.
2. Use the Power Automate trigger "When a new email arrives (V3)," apply a condition to match the sender or subject line, and add an action to save the Excel attachment to Azure Blob Storage.
3. In Power BI Desktop, navigate to Home > Get Data > Azure > Azure Blob Storage. Load and transform your Excel file accordingly.
4. Publish the report to Power BI Service and configure Scheduled Refresh.

Please note: If Azure Blob Storage is not permitted in your environment, the only Microsoft-supported alternative is to save the attachments to OneDrive or SharePoint using Power Automate.

If our response proves helpful, kindly mark it as the accepted solution and provide kudos. This will benefit other community members facing similar issues. Should you have any further queries, please feel free to reach out to the Microsoft Fabric Community.

Thank you.

[v-pnaroju-msft]

Hi france_scone,

We are following up to see if your query has been resolved. Should you have identified a solution, we kindly request you to share it with the community to assist others facing similar issues.

If our response was helpful, please mark it as the accepted solution and provide kudos, as this helps the broader community.

Thank you.

[SundarRaj · Accepted solution]

Hi @france_scone , you can use Power Query to link your outlook. 
1. In the below image, once you mention your Mail Address, it'll open up a pop up box where you'll have to mention your credentials.

2. Post that, a table similar to in the image will open up where you can slice and dice as per your requirements to select the file i.e. Attachments, File Name etc.
Is this helpful? Thanks

[v-pnaroju-msft]

Hi france_scone,

We wanted to check in regarding your query, as we have not heard back from you. If you have resolved the issue, sharing the solution with the community would be greatly appreciated and could help others encountering similar challenges.

If you found our response useful, kindly mark it as the accepted solution and provide kudos to guide other members.

Thank you.

[v-pnaroju-msft]

Hi france_scone,

We have not received a response from you regarding the query and were following up to check if you have found a resolution. If you have identified a solution, we kindly request you to share it with the community, as it may be helpful to others facing a similar issue.

If you find the response helpful, please mark it as the accepted solution and provide kudos, as this will help other members with similar queries.

Thank you.

[v-pnaroju-msft · Accepted solution]

Thankyou, @Sahir_Maharaj, for your response.

Hi @france_scone,

We appreciate your inquiry on the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.

Further to the response provided by @Sahir_Maharaj, and based on my understanding, to connect Power BI with an Excel file received automatically via Outlook without manually transferring the files to SharePoint or OneDrive, one possible solution is to use Power Automate in conjunction with Azure Blob Storage.

Kindly follow the steps outlined below, which may assist in resolving the issue:

1. Request your IT team to create an Azure Blob Storage container.
2. Use the Power Automate trigger "When a new email arrives (V3)," apply a condition to match the sender or subject line, and add an action to save the Excel attachment to Azure Blob Storage.
3. In Power BI Desktop, navigate to Home > Get Data > Azure > Azure Blob Storage. Load and transform your Excel file accordingly.
4. Publish the report to Power BI Service and configure Scheduled Refresh.

Please note: If Azure Blob Storage is not permitted in your environment, the only Microsoft-supported alternative is to save the attachments to OneDrive or SharePoint using Power Automate.

If our response proves helpful, kindly mark it as the accepted solution and provide kudos. This will benefit other community members facing similar issues. Should you have any further queries, please feel free to reach out to the Microsoft Fabric Community.

Thank you.

[Sahir_Maharaj · Accepted solution]

Hello @france_scone,

Congrats on the promotion!

To connect Outlook email attachments to Power BI and automate the refresh, I believe you'll need to set up an automated workflow that captures the Excel attachment and makes it available to Power BI.

Since you're in a corporate environment, the most robust and secure approach I recommend is to use Power Automate in combination with OneDrive / SharePoint - even if you want to avoid it, it's currently the only supported method I'm aware of for auto-refreshing files sent via Outlook in Power BI.

Hope this helps!