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

The Power BI Data Visualization World Championships is back! Get ahead of the game and start preparing now! Learn more

Reply
Sharksguts
Frequent Visitor

Refreshing data from gov.uk

I am trying to setup a Power BI dashboard to link to milk price data here https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-milk-prices-and-composition-of-milk

 

I am downloading the the ods file and opening it within power bi by reading it as an excel file as I tried using the web source and got the following error.

 

DataFormat.Error: External table is not in the expected format.
Details:
9018bd50-02db-4f50-bb09-7d98bda3b6b3.XLS

 

Even if I got the ods file to read straight from the web the link on the .gov.uk looks to be date related so will change each month.

 

What I am trying to setup is a method that will update the data with no manual intervention required.

 

Any suggestion greatly appreciated.

 

Regards


Richard

3 REPLIES 3
v-xjiin-msft
Solution Sage
Solution Sage

Hi @Sharksguts,

 

I have checked the milk price data from your shared link. In the ods file, there exists some useless data like the Title or Updated on or Contact etc. These data will affect the format of your excel file and cause the error. To resolve the error, I think you have to remove these data manually.

 

And generally if we want to update data automatically, we'll use scheduled refresh. Please refer to following article:

Configuring scheduled refresh

 

Thanks,
Xi Jin.

rakeshb
Frequent Visitor

Are there any data manipulations in the dashboard building?

If I understand your question directly yes I manipulate the data slightly by promoting to headers and changing a column name and format.

Helpful resources

Announcements
Power BI DataViz World Championships

Power BI Dataviz World Championships

The Power BI Data Visualization World Championships is back! Get ahead of the game and start preparing now!

December 2025 Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - December 2025

Check out the December 2025 Power BI Holiday Recap!

FabCon Atlanta 2026 carousel

FabCon Atlanta 2026

Join us at FabCon Atlanta, March 16-20, for the ultimate Fabric, Power BI, AI and SQL community-led event. Save $200 with code FABCOMM.