Forum Discussion
Unable to import from Excel file
Hi all
I'm having an issue with getting excel date through the Import button, I wish to import the power pivot data model and measures as well, but I always receive the message saying my file exceeds the maximum limits. However the file I'm importing is only 2300KB, about 20k rows, I'm quite sure it shouldn't exceed the limit.
Does anyone know the reason?
Hi Anonymous ,
There are a few limitations to importing a workbook into Power BI Desktop, which is the following list:
- External Connections to Analysis Services Tabular Models: In Excel 2013, it is possible to create a connection to SQL Server Analysis Services Tabular models and create Power View reports on top of these models without the need to import the data. This type of connection is currently not supported as part of importing Excel Workbooks into Power BI Desktop. As a workaround, you must recreate these external connections in Power BI Desktop.
- Hierarchies: This type of Data Model object is currently not supported in Power BI Desktop. As such, hierarchies are skipped as part of importing an Excel Workbook into Power BI Desktop.
- Binary data columns: This type of Data Model column is currently not supported in Power BI Desktop. Binary Data columns are removed from the resulting table in Power BI Desktop.
- Unsupported Power View elements: There are a few features in Power View that are not available in Power BI Desktop, such as Themes or certain types of visualizations (Scatter Chart with Play Axis, Drill-Down behaviors, etc.). These unsupported visualizations result in Unsupported Visualization messages on their corresponding locations in the Power BI Desktop report, which you can delete or reconfigure as needed.
- Named Ranges using From Table in Power Query, or using Excel.CurrentWorkbook in M: Importing this named range data into Power BI Desktop is not currently supported, but it is a planned update for Power BI Desktop. Currently, these named ranges are loaded into Power BI Desktop as a connection to the external Excel workbook.
- PowerPivot to SSRS: PowerPivot external connections to SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) are not currently supported, since that data source is not currently available in Power BI Desktop.
2 Replies
v-frfei-msftCommunity Support
Hi Anonymous ,
There are a few limitations to importing a workbook into Power BI Desktop, which is the following list:
- External Connections to Analysis Services Tabular Models: In Excel 2013, it is possible to create a connection to SQL Server Analysis Services Tabular models and create Power View reports on top of these models without the need to import the data. This type of connection is currently not supported as part of importing Excel Workbooks into Power BI Desktop. As a workaround, you must recreate these external connections in Power BI Desktop.
- Hierarchies: This type of Data Model object is currently not supported in Power BI Desktop. As such, hierarchies are skipped as part of importing an Excel Workbook into Power BI Desktop.
- Binary data columns: This type of Data Model column is currently not supported in Power BI Desktop. Binary Data columns are removed from the resulting table in Power BI Desktop.
- Unsupported Power View elements: There are a few features in Power View that are not available in Power BI Desktop, such as Themes or certain types of visualizations (Scatter Chart with Play Axis, Drill-Down behaviors, etc.). These unsupported visualizations result in Unsupported Visualization messages on their corresponding locations in the Power BI Desktop report, which you can delete or reconfigure as needed.
- Named Ranges using From Table in Power Query, or using Excel.CurrentWorkbook in M: Importing this named range data into Power BI Desktop is not currently supported, but it is a planned update for Power BI Desktop. Currently, these named ranges are loaded into Power BI Desktop as a connection to the external Excel workbook.
- PowerPivot to SSRS: PowerPivot external connections to SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) are not currently supported, since that data source is not currently available in Power BI Desktop.
I am getting the same error and do not have any of the issues in the list above. I do have an external ODBC connection to a Redshift data warehouse via power query in the Excel data model. The queries load, but when I open the Power query window in Power BI, I notice that "Enable Load" is NOT checked for that query. I am able to check that option, and it does load, but by then, the relationship and all measures based off that table are lost.
