dataset refresh

Hi DanielMay ,

That Pro license limit is true (8 refreshes max per day), but you've got bigger issues to solve first.

Your main problem: Power BI Desktop can't auto-refresh from file changes. It's a desktop app - when you close it, refreshes stop. The scheduled refresh only works for datasets published to the Power BI Service.

Here's what actually works:

Publish to Power BI Service first:

• Publish your Desktop report to the service
• Set up the data gateway if your Excel file is on a local/network drive
• Then scheduled refresh will work (up to 8x daily with Pro)

For more frequent updates:

• Power Automate approach: Your flow needs to call the Power BI REST API to trigger dataset refresh, not just detect file changes
• OneDrive/SharePoint: Move your Excel file there, connect Power BI to that location - updates happen faster
• Power BI Premium: Gets you more refresh slots and supports real-time scenarios

Alternative approach: Instead of waiting for Excel updates, have your Access database write directly to a SQL database or SharePoint list. Power BI handles those sources much better than file-based refreshes.

Quick test: Can you access your Excel file from Power BI Service when you test the connection? If not, you definitely need a gateway setup first.

The Power Automate flow won't help Desktop refresh at all - it only works with published datasets in the service.

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