Sharepoint Data Connection ("Operation Timed Out Error")

Hi Rudresh8690,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Forum Community. 

Thank you Akash_Varuna, for your insights.

Power BI does not treat Excel files from a SharePoint Folder as SharePoint Lists, so the well-known 5000-item threshold from SharePoint Lists does not apply in this case. The timeout error you’re encountering is more likely related to performance limitations rather than a strict row limit. When Power BI connects to a SharePoint Folder, it relies on SharePoint’s REST APIs to retrieve and combine files, and this process can become sluggish especially with larger files or when multiple transformations are applied in Power Query.  

Try optimizing your Excel files by removing unnecessary formatting, formulas, or columns, which can significantly reduce load time. If you're using the default Combine Files function in Power Query, consider applying row or column filters as early as possible in the query steps to minimize the volume of data being processed. 

If you're working with just a few large files, another effective approach is to use the Excel Web connector by pasting the direct file URL from SharePoint. This bypasses the SharePoint Folder API overhead and is often faster. If your data volume continues to grow, you might want to explore using Power BI Dataflows, which run in the cloud and can handle larger datasets more efficiently than Power BI Desktop.

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Thank you.