Getting sharepoint excel file into power bi web

[MattSG]

I'm trying to get an excel file that lives on sharepoint into powerbi web version, and I am absolutely perplexed on how to do this.

When I try to get data all I see are published datasets, and after an hour of googling I can't find anything about how to turn this into a dataset. Nothing in browse gets me there either. 

I have the desktop app, but I want this all to be cloud based because my goal is for new data (of the same format) to be populated into this folder three times per day, and to set up a flow to parse and publish this data (as well as some other data that I was planning on having also putting on sharepoint) into a report.

This seems like it should be a very standard use case, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to make any inroads in making this happen.  I need all the help and pointers.

[collinq · Accepted solution]

Hi @MattSG ,

It is quite common to use Excel within SharePoint so fear not, we can help you!  🙂   

There are a few different ways to connect to the Excel file and it also matters if you are connecting to SharePoint Online or Sharepoint within your environment.  

This article explains how to get the Excel file (2 different methods) from SharePoint:

Quick Tips: Connecting to Excel Files Stored in SharePoint Online from Power BI Desktop - BI Insight

You mentioned "importing into Power BI Web".  I think this is less common a method overall but I know it is done now and then.  The way to do that is outlined here:  Get data from Excel workbook files - Power BI | Microsoft Learn  This might be the right solution for you but I have found that linking to the file is easier as the file updates are easier from within the original location (OneDrive, or in this case, SharePoint).

Let us know if that helped!