Forum Discussion
Connecting Sharepoint folder to Power BI
- 1 year ago
Hi Anonymous
Thanks for reaching out to the fabric Community.When Power BI’s Combine Binaries, step silently skips files it cannot parse, you may lose data without any clear notification. To ensure all 32 files are processed, you can choose one of two workarounds:
Workaround 1: Fail Fast Diagnostics in Power Query
- In your SharePoint Folder query, disable the Skip files with errors option.
- Once the automatic steps run, right click the Invoke Custom Function step and select View Errors. This will list each file and the specific parsing error (e.g., mismatched sheet names, unsupported formats, blank tables).
- Correct the source files rename sheets, convert legacy Excel formats to .xlsx, or remove empty tables so that all files conform, then reapply Combine Binaries to include every file.
Workaround 2: Pre Consolidation via Power Automate
- Create a flow triggered by file changes in your SharePoint folder.
- Use List files in folder to retrieve all Excel files, then loop through them with List rows present in a table (Excel Online).
- Append each file’s rows into an array variable.
- After the loop, use Create CSV table on the consolidated array and Create file to save it (for example, as CombinedData.csv) in SharePoint.
- In Power BI, connect to Text/CSV and point it to CombinedData.csv. You now have a single, guaranteed complete source.
Either method will capture all of your files reliably. Option 1 keeps everything in Power Query, while Option 2 offloads the work to Power Automate so Power BI only ever ingests one consolidated file.
If this resolves your issue, please give us Kudos and mark the response as Accepted as solution.
Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ C Srikanth.
Hi Anonymous
Thanks for reaching out to the Fabric Community!
Follow these simplified steps to connect your SharePoint folder to Power BI using Power Automate:
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Ensure all Excel files are stored in a specific SharePoint document library or folder.
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Go to Power Automate and select Create → Automated cloud flow.
- Name your flow (e.g., SharePoint to Power BI Refresh), choose the trigger "When a file is created or modified in a folder (SharePoint)", and click Create.
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Enter your SharePoint site address and the folder path you want to monitor.
- Add the action "Refresh a dataset" from the Power BI connector and select your Workspace and Dataset.
Reference links : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-query/connectors/sharepoint-folder
This setup assumes your Power BI dataset is directly connected to your SharePoint folder.
If the above information helps you, please give us a Kudos and marked the Accept as a solution.
Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ C Srikanth.