Skip to main content
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Next up in the FabCon + SQLCon recap series: The roadmap for Microsoft SQL and Maximizing Developer experiences in Fabric. All sessions are available on-demand after the live show. Register now

Reply
jonsey1995
Frequent Visitor

Power Query R script step not running when refresh in PowerBI Desktop

Hi All,

 

I'm trying to export a query to excel using the the following R script step in Power Query:

 

 

install.packages("openxlsx")
library("openxlsx")
write.xlsx(dataset, "removed this but is a valid directory", asTable = TRUE, overwrite = TRUE)

 

 

When i refresh preview in power query, file is created/ overwritten correctly 👍

 

However when refreshing using powerBI Desktop the file is not created/overwritten 👎

 

Help appreciated, thanks!

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
lbendlin
Super User
Super User

Seems to work fine  (within the limitations of this setup)

 

let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45WclSK1YlWcgKTzmDSRSk2FgA=", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [Column1 = _t]),
    #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(Source, "Custom", each Number.Random()),
    #"Run R script" = R.Execute("# 'dataset' holds the input data for this script#(lf)library(""openxlsx"")#(lf)write.xlsx(dataset, ""C:\\users\\xxx\\downloads\\test.xlsx"", asTable = TRUE, overwrite = TRUE)#(lf)output<-dataset",[dataset=#"Added Custom"]),
    #"""output""" = #"Run R script"{[Name="output"]}[Value]
in
    #"""output"""

You don't really want to install packages in your script - do that in the R command line.

View solution in original post

1 REPLY 1
lbendlin
Super User
Super User

Seems to work fine  (within the limitations of this setup)

 

let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45WclSK1YlWcgKTzmDSRSk2FgA=", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [Column1 = _t]),
    #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(Source, "Custom", each Number.Random()),
    #"Run R script" = R.Execute("# 'dataset' holds the input data for this script#(lf)library(""openxlsx"")#(lf)write.xlsx(dataset, ""C:\\users\\xxx\\downloads\\test.xlsx"", asTable = TRUE, overwrite = TRUE)#(lf)output<-dataset",[dataset=#"Added Custom"]),
    #"""output""" = #"Run R script"{[Name="output"]}[Value]
in
    #"""output"""

You don't really want to install packages in your script - do that in the R command line.

Helpful resources

Announcements
New to Fabric survey Carousel

New to Fabric Survey

If you have recently started exploring Fabric, we'd love to hear how it's going. Your feedback can help with product improvements.

Power BI DataViz World Championships carousel

Power BI DataViz World Championships - June 2026

A new Power BI DataViz World Championship is coming this June! Don't miss out on submitting your entry.

FabCon and SQLCon Highlights Carousel

FabCon &SQLCon Highlights

Experience the highlights from FabCon & SQLCon, available live and on-demand starting April 14th.

March Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Community Update - March 2026

Check out the March 2026 Power BI update to learn about new features.