Urgent -Connecting to excel saved on a remote desktop server

[rdbjay]

Hi I'm a newbie to here,

I do have a Power Bi data model which has data connected through API to SQL data tables stored in a remote desktop server. At the moment I've set up an on-premises gateway on the server and all my APIs are perfectly refreshing through it. 

Now, I need to add a new data source which is an Excel sheet stored in a folder on the Remote desktop server. How do I set up this? I need to add the table in Excel to my existing Power Bi data model which all other data tables are connected through APIs.

I'm developing this data model on my local computer's Power Bi desktop. So obviously I can't simply open the Get Data>Excel and give the file path as the Excel file is not saved on my local drive. Due to security reasons storing files on one drive or file share is not an option at the moment.

Please help me experts!

[Adamboer]

To add an Excel sheet stored on a remote desktop server to your existing Power BI data model, you can follow these steps:

1. Open Power BI Desktop and go to "Home" tab.

2. Click on "Get Data" and then select "More".

3. Choose "File" under the "Other" section and click on "Connect".

4. In the "File Path" field, enter the network path to the Excel file on the remote desktop server. For example, \ServerName\SharedFolderName\FileName.xlsx.

5. Click on "OK" to load the Excel data into Power BI Desktop.

6. Now, you need to merge the Excel data with your existing data model. You can do this by going to "Home" tab, selecting "Combine Queries" and then choosing "Merge Queries".

7. In the "Merge Queries" dialog box, select your existing data model as the first table and the Excel data as the second table.

8. Choose the common field between the two tables and click on "OK" to merge them.

9. Once the data is merged, you can use it in your existing reports.

Note that in order to access the Excel file on the remote desktop server, you will need to have appropriate permissions to the network share where the file is stored.

[rdbjay]

got a similar suggestion from chat GPT, but surprisingly there's no "file" selection on the menu.

[Idrissshatila]

@rdbjay ,

You could put it on a onedrive, in this way you could connect to it from your pc.

If I answered your question, please mark my post as solution, Appreciate your Kudos 👍

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[rdbjay]

As per the server admin storing it in one drive is not allowed. Also on my powerbi desktop Onedrive is not showing. is there any other way to connect with this file?

[Idrissshatila]

Hello @rdbjay ,

If this excel sheet won't be changing or getting new reacords more often, then you could copy the data in it and create a table in power bi and paste them in there.

If I answered your question, please mark my post as solution, Appreciate your Kudos 👍

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[rdbjay]

Forgot to mention, this excel sheet holds current transaction records which update frequently.