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DataMuncher10's avatar
DataMuncher10
Icon for Advocate I rankAdvocate I
8 years ago
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Uploading Excel connected to PowerBI Data Model to Power BI and refreshing it

Hi everyone,   We're in early stages of implementing power BI in our company. We're trying to understand the available options for users to have access to more details about the data they’re seein...
  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    8 years ago

    DataMuncher10,

    Based on my test, you are able to upload the Excel to Power BI Service. There are some steps for your reference.
    1. Create required Pivot charts in the Excel file.
    2. Upload the Excel file to OneDrive for business.
    3. In Power BI Service, use "Get Data->Files->OneDrive for Business" entry and use "Connect, manage and view Excel" option to upload Excel to Power BI Service.


    4. When you modify data in SQL Server data source, you would need to open the Excel file in your local drive, manually refresh the data in Excel, save the excel file and upload the file again to OneDrive for business to replace the existing excel file. After that, you will find that the Excel wookbook you upload to Power BI Service is refreshed.

    Regards,
    Lydia

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    8 years ago

    DataMuncher10,

    Yes. Otherwise, you can consider to connect to SQL database in Excel directly, then import the Excel file to Power BI Service and set schedule refresh for the dataset.

    Regards,
    Lydia

Anonymous's avatar
Anonymous
Not applicable
8 years ago

DataMuncher10,

Based on my test, you are able to upload the Excel to Power BI Service. There are some steps for your reference.
1. Create required Pivot charts in the Excel file.
2. Upload the Excel file to OneDrive for business.
3. In Power BI Service, use "Get Data->Files->OneDrive for Business" entry and use "Connect, manage and view Excel" option to upload Excel to Power BI Service.


4. When you modify data in SQL Server data source, you would need to open the Excel file in your local drive, manually refresh the data in Excel, save the excel file and upload the file again to OneDrive for business to replace the existing excel file. After that, you will find that the Excel wookbook you upload to Power BI Service is refreshed.

Regards,
Lydia

DataMuncher10's avatar
DataMuncher10
Icon for Advocate I rankAdvocate I
8 years ago

Thanks for the quick reply, Lydia,

 

The fact that one would have to Open, Refresh, Upload the file again is a considerable downside.

Could you please confirm if that's the only option?

 

Again thanks

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Not applicable
    8 years ago

    DataMuncher10,

    Yes. Otherwise, you can consider to connect to SQL database in Excel directly, then import the Excel file to Power BI Service and set schedule refresh for the dataset.

    Regards,
    Lydia