I want Calculated Columns and OneDrive Refresh

[granthworth]

...but I can't have them, which is beyond frustrating. If I want hourly OneDrive refresh (24 times a day versus 8), I have to connect to my Excel files in the PBI Service which means I can't use calculated columns. If I want calculated columns, measures, or ANY other benefit that comes along with creating reports in PBI Desktop, I can't have the hourly refresh.

Am I missing something?

[lukas1]

I am having the same problem right now.

But basically when you load a pbi desktop file from onecloud/sharepoint (which is based on excel datasets also from onecloud) in power bi online service then the file should be able to be updated every hour. (by the automatic update through onecloud?) 

Plus you could create measures in power bi desktop, which you can import in Power Bi service.

Or does the automatic update (every hour) only work when you import an excel file directly, and does not work if you import a Power Bi dektop file (also from Onecloud) ?

I would be very grateful for answers.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

@granthworth,

Yes. When you directly upload the PBIX file to Power BI Service and turn on OneDrive refresh, and change the data in Excel file data source, the data can't be updated in Power BI dataset/report hourly.

However, you can set schedule refresh for the dataset, as your post, up to 8 times for pro user. If you want to refresh 24 times a day, you can purchase Power BI premium license, which allows you set schedule refresh up to 48 times a day.

Regards,
Lydia

[granthworth]

Hello Lydia,

I understand that the Premium service offers this functionality. However, one would think since the Pro license offers hourly "OneDrive refresh" as well as the ability to create reports and datasets in the Desktop software and publish them to the Service, the two would not be mutually exclusive. In fact, your own documentation never mentions this limitation and references the hourly OneDrive refresh multiple times in this doc: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/refresh-data#types-of-refresh

I have been using Power BI almost since launch and have monitored and contributed to "Ideas" and this forum for that entire time. One thing I have come to learn about Power BI in general is that a lot of functionality issues are just simply not noticed or considered by the development team at Microsoft until the user base voices their concerns. This does not seem to me like a planned limitation of the Pro license but rather an oversight in data connectivity.

Now, I am not digging at the development team here as their frequent updates and progress are very much appreicated. I do know that it is difficult to plan for all the different scenarios in which thousands of companies will adopt your software and services. We just happen to be a small company with less than 30 Pro users that would greatly benefit from this small change.

[Anonymous]

@granthworth,

Please check details in  the this article.

"When you make changes to your file on OneDrive or SharePoint Online, such as adding new measures, changing column names, or editing visualizations, once you save the file those changes will be updated in the Power BI service too, usually within about an hour."

"When you import your Power BI Desktop file from OneDrive, or SharePoint Online, data, along with other information about the model is loaded into a dataset in Power BI. In the Power BI service, not Power BI Desktop, you want to refresh data in the dataset because that is what your reports, in the Power BI service, are based on. Because the data sources are external, you can manually refresh the dataset by using Refresh now or you can setup a refresh schedule by using Schedule Refresh."

Regards,
Lydia