How to create a live connection between a published Power BI report and Excel file on SharePoint

[robbert-bi]

Hi. I have a Power BI report which is published to Power BI Service. This report connects to an Excel file on SharePoint. Is it possible to create a live connection between the published Power BI report and the Excel file such that whenever a change is made to the Excel file, it is immediately (or let's say: within a couple of seconds) reflected in the Power BI report? A scheduled refresh is not going to help because that is limited to a specific number of times per day. Also, I don't want to manually press the refresh button in Power BI Service whenever changes are made in Excel. It needs to be automatically. I'm curious if someone has a workable solution. Thank you in advance! 

[v-karpurapud]

Hi @robbert-bi 

May I ask if you have resolved this issue? If so, please mark the helpful reply and accept it as the solution. This will be helpful for other community members who have similar problems to solve it faster.

Thank you.

[v-karpurapud]

Hi @robbert-bi 
 

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.

I appreciate the insights shared by @christinepayton . Additionally, here are few points to optimize your workload and capacity.

• Unfortunately, Power BI does not support a direct “live connection” to an Excel file stored on SharePoint. 

Use SharePoint Lists Instead of Excel:

If feasible, consider storing data in a SharePoint List instead of an Excel file. Power BI supports DirectQuery for SharePoint Lists, allowing near real-time updates.

• Convert your Excel data into a SharePoint List.
• Use DirectQuery to connect Power BI to the SharePoint List.

If my response has resolved your query, please mark it as the Accepted Solution to help others. Additionally, I would appreciate a 'Kudos' if you found my response helpful.

Thank you!

 

[robbert-bi]

Hi @v-karpurapud . I understand what you mean here, but what if the user wants to keep using Excel for data input? Or is there some way to automatically link the SharePoint list to the Excel file?

[v-karpurapud · Accepted solution]

Hi @robbert-bi 

you can set up an automatic sync between your Excel file and a SharePoint List, while continuing to use Excel for data input by syncing it with a SharePoint List:

• Open the Excel file, select the table, and export it to a SharePoint List using Excel Desktop (Export → Export Table to SharePoint List). Enter the SharePoint site URL to complete the setup.
• Use Power Automate: Sign in, create a flow, and select the "When a row is added, modified, or deleted" trigger for Excel. Choose the SharePoint-hosted Excel file and add an "Update item" action to sync data with the SharePoint List. Save and test the flow.

Now, any updates in Excel will sync automatically to the SharePoint List in real time.

If the user must keep the Excel file as the direct source, then use power automate can trigger dataset refreshes whenever changes occur.

If you find this post helpful, please mark it as an "Accept as Solution" and give a KUDOS.
Thank You!

[christinepayton]

You can trigger a refresh when the file is modified in SharePoint with Power Automate, but it will not bypass the 8 per day limit. The only way to have it truly "live" is to use a datasouce that supports direct query, like Dataverse or SQL.