Forum Discussion
Need help Implementing Power Automate Button in PBI to trigger input of data in Excel cell
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.
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.
