Excel version 2311 broken

[cassidy]

We are having multiple users no longer able to refresh existing BI Pivot Tables and cannot create new ones.  These users are newly released version 2311, users on 2310 are not experiencing this.

This is critical functionality, please advise.

[v-yetao1-msft]

Hi  @cassidy 

So you had the same test steps on Desktop in October and November, but had a problem in November, right?
Can you describe the procedure in detail? What is the data source you are using? Can you provide your sample for testing if you can?

How to provide sample data in the Power BI Forum - Microsoft Fabric Community

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Ailsa Tao

[cassidy]

@v-yetao1-msft  this is not related to Power BI Desktop, the latest Version of Excel (2311) no longer functions with Power BI's Analyze in Excel feature.  You cannot refresh a Pivot connected to a Dataset (Semantic Model) and you cannnot connect to Service to create a new one.

The testing is as follows

Users on Excel Version 2310 have no disruption in Power BI functionality

Users on Excel Version 2311 cannot use Power BI functionality 

We have at least a dozen Users in both groups that verified.

[cassidy]

I've created a MSFT support ticket as well:  2312050010003129

[DHayes]

Copying my fix from here: Re: Excel Version 2311 - Microsoft Fabric Community
@cassidy @v-yetao1-msft 

I was able to fix this issue by creating a new Excel document from PowerBI online (I assume the same source) and then saving that as a copy to my PC.  This Excel document works with no problem but I noticed that the connection string is different than my original Excel documents so I copied the new connection string and overwrote the existing connection strings. This fixed my issue.

Change Connection String

OLD connection string (renamed GUIDs for privacy)

Provider=MSOLAP.8;Integrated Security=ClaimsToken;Persist Security Info=True;Initial Catalog=sobe_wowvirtualserver-<GUID>;Data Source=pbiazure://;Location="https://wabi-us-north-central-redirect.analysis.windows.net//xmla?vs=sobe_wowvirtualserver&db=<GUID>&app=PBIAddin";Extended Properties="DataSource=pbiazure://";MDX Compatibility=1;Safety Options=2;MDX Missing Member Mode=Error;Identity Provider=https://login.microsoftonline.com/common, https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api, <GUID>;Update Isolation Level=2

New connection string

Provider=MSOLAP.8;Integrated Security=ClaimsToken;Persist Security Info=True;Initial Catalog=sobe_wowvirtualserver-<GUID>;Data Source=pbiazure://api.powerbi.com;MDX Compatibility=1;Safety Options=2;MDX Missing Member Mode=Error;Identity Provider=https://login.microsoftonline.com/common, https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api, <GUID>;Update Isolation Level=2

The error we got for searchability:

"Microsoft Excel
COM error: COM error. Microsoft.AnalysisServices.AzureClient, Authentication failed; we cannot locate Azure Active Directory in your environment. This could be because your client application does not currently have the required components. Install the latest version of your client application or contact technical"

[cassidy]

@v-yetao1-msft do you have further comment?

We rolled users back to the Semi-Annual release (2302) which fixes the ability to refresh, however it has the unresolved "blank white Datasets pane" issue when users try to create a new BI Pivot.

[v-yetao1-msft]

Hi  @cassidy 

According to your feedback this problem is obviously caused by the version upgrade of excel, you can find the relevant engineers of excel and let them help to deal with your problem. You can follow the link I provided to the corresponding forum for help. Thank you for your cooperation !

Contact Us - Microsoft Support

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Ailsa Tao

[cassidy]

@v-yetao1-msft a similar issue persists to 8 months later for the Semi-Annual Version of Excel (2302) and was Accepted and nevered Delivered.

Would you like to change that one to Delivered as well and ask users to contact Excel engineers?

https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Issues/Bug-Excel-Power-BI-Datasets-is-showing-Blank-pane-t...

[cassidy]

The solution was that our company had TLS 1.3 enabled on Windows 10, which is not compatible.  Version 2311 of Excel apparently started using 1.3 when trying to reach out to Power BI Service, causing an error.  

This also was preventing Power BI Desktop from Signing In, and also Excel from connecting to Azure SQL DB's