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

[edwardrmiles]

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

[v-jiascu-msft]

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]

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]

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

[edwardrmiles · Accepted solution]

@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

[stianbakke]

Is it not possible to use Excel Online in Power BI (workbooks) where we have an Excel Pivot (or CUBEVALUE) connecting to Azure SSAS? It uploads fine, but if I try to change filters in Excel report I get an error message.

How to reproduce :

Latest Excel version (O365) + Azure SSAS model + Power BI

Connect Excel to Azure SSAS Tabular model. Create report with one filter. Publish to Power BI. Open Power BI portal and try to change the filter. Voila, error. I would expect this to work and the functionality is sorely missed as Power BI does NOT do financial reporting (type financial statements with row level calculations etc.) well. 

Sorry to be a necromancer reviving this old thread, but very few posts are adressing this issue.