Forum Discussion
Need help Implementing Power Automate Button in PBI to trigger input of data in Excel cell
I'm working on a Power BI form completion where:
- Sharepoint Excel spreadsheet is connected to Power BI workbook as data source
- Data source contains columns [ID] which has unique identifiers, and [Status] which is blank until approved or rejected.
- Power BI Workbook contains "Approve" and "Reject" Power Automate buttons, with "ID" in the field well.
The idea is that when you select either "Approve" or "Reject", this will trigger a Power Automate flow which updates the specific blank [Status] column for the specifc [ID] row to either "Approve" or "Reject". Once the Power BI workbook is refreshed, it will show the updated updated data.
I'm aware that Power BI can't write data so this in a sense is a workaround and a proof of concept for a submitting a form.
It's been super frustrating to test, CoPilot/ChatGPT says that this is possible. I've been testing and have some questions:
- Power Automate doesn't allow you to test a PBI button flow, instead it has to be triggered in the PBI workbook. So, do you need to first publish the PBI workbook, a test via the published version?
- Is there any log/trail produced to see results of testing?
- In theory, is what I'm trying to achieve really possible?
Hey MikeMichaels
Yes, your requirement is achievable using the Power Automate for Power BI visual, since Power BI itself cannot write data back to Excel. The setup is: store your Excel file on SharePoint/OneDrive, convert the data into a proper table (e.g., ApprovalsTable), and ensure columns include ID and Status. In Power BI, add the Power Automate visual, place ID in its field well, and create flows for Approve and Reject. Each flow receives the selected ID, uses List rows present in a table to find the matching row in Excel via a filter (ID eq '<selectedID>'), and updates the Status column with Update a row. Flows cannot be tested directly in the Power Automate portal—you must trigger them from the Power Automate visual in Power BI (Desktop or Service). Run results can be monitored in the flow’s Run history, and you’ll need to refresh the dataset/report to see the updated status. Common issues are unstructured Excel data (not in a table), column name mismatches, file locking, or permission problems. For a robust solution, consider moving from Excel to a SharePoint List or Dataverse table, but for proof of concept, this Excel-based method works.
Regards
ABD.
6 Replies
Hey MikeMichaels
Yes, your requirement is achievable using the Power Automate for Power BI visual, since Power BI itself cannot write data back to Excel. The setup is: store your Excel file on SharePoint/OneDrive, convert the data into a proper table (e.g., ApprovalsTable), and ensure columns include ID and Status. In Power BI, add the Power Automate visual, place ID in its field well, and create flows for Approve and Reject. Each flow receives the selected ID, uses List rows present in a table to find the matching row in Excel via a filter (ID eq '<selectedID>'), and updates the Status column with Update a row. Flows cannot be tested directly in the Power Automate portal—you must trigger them from the Power Automate visual in Power BI (Desktop or Service). Run results can be monitored in the flow’s Run history, and you’ll need to refresh the dataset/report to see the updated status. Common issues are unstructured Excel data (not in a table), column name mismatches, file locking, or permission problems. For a robust solution, consider moving from Excel to a SharePoint List or Dataverse table, but for proof of concept, this Excel-based method works.
Regards
ABD.
Thanks very much for your response, I eventually figured out that I was struggling with development so much because the Power Automate flow had to be created and setup within Power BI Desktop itself, rather than Power Automate, otherwise I wasn't able to specifiy specific PBI data fields.
Hi MikeMichaels
Please refer to the linked discussion.
If this post helps, then please consider Accepting it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly
Hi MikeMichaels
Just checking in as we haven't received a response to our previous message. Were you able to review the information above? Let us know if you have any additional questions.
Thank You.Hi MikeMichaels
Thank you for submitting your question to the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum, and thanks to ABD128 and Ritaf1983 for offering helpful suggestions.
Could you let us know if the suggested solution resolved your issue?If you still need help, please share more details so we can assist you further.
Thank you.
Hi MikeMichaels
I wanted to check if you’ve had a chance to review the information provided. If you have any further questions, please let us know. Has your issue been resolved? If not, please share more details so we can assist you further.
Thank You.
