Forum Discussion

edwardrmiles's avatar
edwardrmiles
Helper III
9 years ago
Solved

Excel workbook won't refresh in App Workspace / Excel Online

I've uploaded (not imported) an Excel workbook to an app workspace that gets data (using CUBEVALUE functions) from a Power BI model located in the same app workspace.  

 

When I try to refresh the Excel workbook data from Excel it works fine but when I try to refresh from the app workspace I get an 'External Data Refresh Failed' error.  Is there a way of enabling data refresh in Excel Online? and if you can't do this can I disable the data refresh attempt / supress error messages

 

Ps I get the same problem when I upload to SharePoint online

 

Thanks

 

 

  • edwardrmiles's avatar
    edwardrmiles
    9 years ago

    v-jiascu-msft I haven't managed to solve it

     

    So I guess we can conclude that data refresh (by Power BI) isn't supported when Power BI connects to an Excel Workbook

     

     

5 Replies

  • v-jiascu-msft's avatar
    v-jiascu-msft
    Microsoft Employee

    Hi edwardrmiles,

     

    According to my test, if the workbook has a model, a gateway could be needed for refresh. Does your workbook have a model? What are the data sources of the model if it has one?

     

    BTW, Power BI is a professional software that aims at data modeling, manipulating and sharing. Why not using Power BI?

     

    Best Regards!

    Dale

    • edwardrmiles's avatar
      edwardrmiles
      Helper III

      Hi v-jiascu-msft

       

      My workbook doesn't have a model.  It is just an Excel visualisation of some Power BI data (as the users needs to maniuplate the data in ways not practical in Power BI).

       

      You can replicate the problem by creating a new Excel workbook, then using the 'Connect to Data' option in the Power BI Publisher for Excel Add In.  Create a pivot table using some Power BI data then upload (don't import) the workbook to your App Workspace

      • v-jiascu-msft's avatar
        v-jiascu-msft
        Microsoft Employee

        Hi edwardrmiles,

         

        I tried. But it always said "data refresh not supported". I have tried these below:

        1. Connect to report/dataset from excel;

        2. The original dataset connects to SQL Server both live and import, Excel workbook.

        Did you solve it?

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

        Best Regards!

        Dale