Data to Excel Reporting

[bhalicki]

Hi guys,

I have a client who uses PowerBi for data extracts.  A lot of the features they are asking for are getting a bit out of hand and no longer supported by the standard table or matrix visuals.  Reports also have quite a number of slicers (10 or more, with complex scenarios which aren't just a case of filtering a row in a table by a value). 

Is there a better tool that is more suited to data extracts?

Kind regards,

Ben.

[v-sshirivolu · Accepted solution]

Hi @bhalicki ,

Thanks for sharing the details, this comes up often as reports get larger and users need filtered Excel exports.

The most stable way to handle this is to use Analyze in Excel, which opens your Power BI dataset directly in Excel as a live PivotTable. It keeps all active slicers, filters, and hierarchies, while also respecting row-level security.

You can launch it from the Power BI Service (More options... then - Analyze in Excel) or add the button directly to your report for convenience.

If you want to offer advanced filtering (dynamic date ranges, multi-select, etc.), use a disconnected parameter table with dynamic M query parameters. This lets the report refresh or export exactly what the user selects without breaking the model.

Official Microsoft documentation:
Export data from a Power BI visualization
Create Excel workbooks with refreshable Power BI data
Dynamic M query parameters in Power BI Desktop
Create Excel workbooks with refreshable Power BI data

Best regards,
Sreeteja

[v-sshirivolu]

Hi @bhalicki ,

I hope the information provided above assists you in resolving the issue. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to support you and will be happy to help with any further assistance you may need.

[v-sshirivolu]

Hi @bhalicki ,

I hope the above details help you fix the issue. If you still have any questions or need more help, feel free to reach out. We’re always here to support you

[lbendlin]

Directly connect from Excel to your data sources. Take Power BI out of the tool chain.

[bhalicki]

Thanks @lbendlin , users still need the ability to select/filter the data they want before the export is generated.  I was hoping there might be a tool that produces a nice custom extract, rather than going straight to Excel.  I would say paginated reports, but that tool is just nasty.

[lbendlin]

Depends on what the data source is and what extract features that data source offers natively.

[bhalicki]

Microsoft ecosystem (Fabric, MSSQL).