Is it possible to auto refresh data in power bi desktop?

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

I connected power bi desktop with teradata and imported data using 'import mode' with some sql codes. I refresh the imported tables by clicking 'refresh' in the 'Queries' section of the ribbon. However, it is pretty manual as I need to do this every morning to get my data refreshed in Power BI desktop. 

Is there a way to schedule the refresh at 5 am every morning? (I didn't use DirectQuery mode as I wanted to create some measures and add new columns to the datatables.)

Thank you!

[danextian · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

That currently cannot be done in Power BI Desktop. Why not make a scheduled refresh in Power BI service instead?

Alternatively, you can leverage Power Automate Desktop  to do the refresh for you but that would be another learning curve and a scheduled flow run requires premium.

[danextian · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

Scheduled refresh requries a pro license. Also, if Terradata is located on-premise (not in the cloud), you will need to use Power BI Gatewa in order to refresh from the web.

[danextian · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

That currently cannot be done in Power BI Desktop. Why not make a scheduled refresh in Power BI service instead?

Alternatively, you can leverage Power Automate Desktop  to do the refresh for you but that would be another learning curve and a scheduled flow run requires premium.

[Anonymous]

Hi @danextian ,

Thanks for your fast reply! I really apprecited it! For some reason, the 'Refresh' section on power bi service is grey and doesn't allow me to change the setting (please see below screenshot). Do you know why it is like this? Is it because I need to upgrade to pro license to use this feature or I need to contact the company IT admin? Also may I ask if the dataset on Power BI service is auto-freshed, will my report on the service also get refrshed automatically? 

Thanks!

[danextian · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

Scheduled refresh requries a pro license. Also, if Terradata is located on-premise (not in the cloud), you will need to use Power BI Gatewa in order to refresh from the web.

[Anonymous]

Hi @danextian 

Thanks for your advice! I'm sorry maybe my question sounds silly..but I'm not familiar with power bi gateway. May I ask how does this gateway work and is it secure to use? My company has a very strict data privacy policy.

Thanks!

[danextian · Accepted solution]

Power BI Gateway acts as a mididleman between your on-prem data and Power BI service. https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/gateway/ The machine where the gateway is installed should be online in order for the service to communicate with it.

[Anonymous]

Thank you @danextian !! You are a star!!