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gracylayla's avatar
gracylayla
Advocate II
8 years ago

Power BI - Get Data From SharePoint List / Library

In this article, we will show how to get the data from SharePoint in Power BI.
  1. Using OData Feed.
  2. Using SharePoint List.

Get SharePoint List/Library Using OData Feed

The Open Data Protocol (OData) is a data access protocol for the web.
  • OData provides a uniform way to query and manipulates datasets through CRUD operations (create, read, update, and delete).
  • OData defines an abstract data model and a protocol that let the client access the information exposed by SharePoint. 

Steps

  • Open Power BI Desktop and at Home Tab, click on Get Data > OData Feed.
  • Type the OData Feed URL for the SharePoint "http://siteurl/_vti_bin/listdata.svc" and click Connect. 

    • ListData.svc provides a way of getting information from a list using REST.

  • In Navigator dialog, select the required list and click Load.
  • You should now find the list fields in Fields section, and you should be ready to build your report from SharePoint list items.
Note

In case the current user is not authorized to connect to the site, you will be prompted to set the right credential as shown below.

Get SharePoint List/Library Using SharePoint List Connection

Power BI Desktop also provides a direct data source for the SharePoint list as shown below.

Steps

  • Open Power BI Desktop > at Home Tab > Click on Get Data > click More.
  • In Get Data dialog, Search for SharePoint > Select SharePoint List > click Connect.
  • Provide the SharePoint Site URL > click OK.
  • In Navigator dialog, select the required list > click Load.
  • You should now find the list fields in Fields section, and you should be ready to build your report from SharePoint list items.

 

General Comments

7 Replies

  • JCaseAV's avatar
    JCaseAV
    New Member
    4 years ago

    Wondering if the community can help me out.  

     

    I am able to connect my PowerBi to a SQL server and pull live data from the source.  I am looking to get that live data to show as a "living" Excel doc that I can host or make a SharePoint list to connect the data to other applications we use internally at my company.

     

    A lot of people want to know who to connect power BI to a SharePoint list but I am looking to do the reverse, connect a list to a Power BI data set.  Is this possible?  

    • shivakumar_1989's avatar
      shivakumar_1989
      Regular Visitor
      3 years ago

      You can try to use Power Automate for this functionality. You'd also need bulk delete or a delete duplicates added to the list as well flow. The flow can be a scheduled to run every second (or the time it takes for the flow to run - whichever is larger).

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Not applicable
    4 years ago

    just to make sure, when you get data from a list, any alterations you do to the data will not be reflected on the list, right?

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Not applicable
    2 years ago

    Hi. My report in Power Bi gets the data from a list in SharePoint. Works fine. But what if I cannot add new data to the list in SharePoint? Instead I have a new list with the new data and I need my report in Power Bi to drop the first list and use the new list to get the new data. How can I switch lists in a Power Bi report?

    Of course, for obvious reasons changing names of lists in SharePoint doesn't work.

    Thanks.

  • aman0121's avatar
    aman0121
    Regular Visitor
    9 months ago

    Really helpful breakdown, thanks for sharing this. I’ve been bouncing between OData and the direct SharePoint list connector and sometimes get confused about when each one is ideal. Your step-by-step screenshots always make things easier to follow. I was actually multitasking earlier on something unrelated like checking updates and coming back to this post reminded me how clean and organized Power BI workflows can be when set up right. Appreciate the clarity here!