Forum Discussion
Where does the excel file data go?
Does this mean that if I start working in Power BI Desktop, use the GetData option to see info from an Excel file, that data is still not in the cloud? Yes
if that's the case, I could create a Dashboard in Power BI Desktop, save it in a Internal Network Drive and have somebody else from the organization open it if I want to share it with that person? Yes/No - The Desktop only creates reports. Dashboards are created in the Service only.
The Desktop is free. The subscription is for using the Service
The Desktop is the download. It allows you to model and build reports.
The Service also has the same report building capability, and it is where you can build dashboards and share.
The problem with only using the desktop is that you can't build dashboards, and any file you share can be modified by an end user. It would be the equivalent of just passing around an Excel file. So you can't connect and use Mobile devices etc as those are only tied into the Service/Dashboards.
There is a complete on premises solution coming with SSRS 2016, where you will be able to load your Desktop files to an SSRS server, but I don't know all the details or restrictions yet. SQL 2016 will release June 1st, 2016. I know I'm throwing alot at you, but there are a bunch of different options.
HI Anonymous,
Sorry to bother you again, but I think my new question is still related with what you mentioned yesterday...
Let say I create a report with Visualizations in Power BI Desktop by using the GetData option from an Excel file, but the Excel file gets modified either in structure (new column) or data, is there a way to get those updates into my report before publishing it into the service? in order to still keep my data local, at least for now.
Thanks a lot in advance!
Brenda
brendaivett No bother. You can refresh your data set at any time. Up in the "Home" tab of the top header toolbar you will see "Refresh" - just click that any time to update your dataset. Both data and column changes will appear in your Desktop file.
Anonymous, you just saved my life, thank you soooo much!
Brenda
Hi Anonymous,
I have been building my reports with Power BI Desktop, getting the data from the excel files I already had, refreshing them as you recommended, with the Refresh button, and everything was going smoothly until today, when I tried to look into one of my reports, updated, I noticed it's not refreshing the information, I tried open the report double-clicking on it, I tried first opening Power BI and from there opening the report and nothing seems to help, do you have any idea/recommendation on how I can get the reports refreshed again?
Thank you so much in advance!
Brenda
Hi Anonymous,
I have been building my reports with Power BI Desktop, getting the data from the excel files I already had, refreshing them as you recommended, with the Refresh button, and everything was going smoothly until today, when I tried to look into one of my reports, updated, I noticed it's not refreshing the information, I tried open the report double-clicking on it, I tried first opening Power BI and from there opening the report and nothing seems to help, do you have any idea/recommendation on how I can get the reports refreshed again?
Thank you so much in advance!
Brenda
brendaivett can you clarify, you are doing all this checking and refreshing in the Desktop only - correct?
Have you tried to right click on the Fields that are populating the reports and refreshing those individually? Are you just refreshing the info, and no model changes?