Publisher for Excel missing from Analyze in Excel

[Cymbolz]

I haven't seen anything that clearly explains so am joining the dots...seems the separate Publisher for Excel is now incorporated into the Analyze in Excel (SQL OLE DB) installer.  

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/publisher-for-excel 
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-analyze-in-excel

The doco page for Publisher has a download link that now goes to the Analyze doco page.  Also there isn't a separate installer for Publisher anymore (downloads from the Power BI Service).

I have a fresh PC and installed the Analyze in Excel plug-in.  There is no Power BI ribbon in my Excel.  I've tried re-installing (repairing) and uninstalling + installing.  

It is not listed in my COM add-ins.  The Analyze in Excel functionality is working ok, just the (what was) Publisher for Excel is missing.  Ideas?

[GilbertQ]

Hi there

have you tried to download and install it from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=50729

[Cymbolz]

I haven't tried that and want to understand and follow the documented process (else how would someone find a separate download if it were not documented or linked?).

[GilbertQ]

Hi there

I am not sure why something has changed because it used to be available when you were logged into the Power BI Service.

[Cymbolz]

Indeed it seems so.  Am hoping that or a similar someone can explain themselves or remediate the issue.

My bet is the Publisher for Excel was intended to but hasn't been integrated into the Analyze in Excel installer 

[Cymbolz]

Is there anyone from MS here who cares to explain what is happening with Publisher for Excel?

[Cymbolz]

An update on this, I logged a support ticket and after a period of time that seemed too long, and more time spent demonstrating and explaining to Microsoft what their software was doing and documentation was saying...

The issue has been recognised and there are now, by my count, more than 3 teams involved in addressing this catastrophe.  From what I read, the documentation is incorrect and will be fixed, so to point to the separate Publisher for Excel download.  It was confirmed the download link for this will not be added back to the Power BI downloads menu in the service.

[GilbertQ]

Thanks for letting us know, I am not sure why that was taken away. It is a pity as it makes interacting with data a lot easier for people who like using Excel.

[Cymbolz]

It has always been where it was.  Seems somebody decided to update multiple documents to suggest there was a change - from my educated guess, the Publisher for Excel feature would be incorporated into Analyze in Excel - yet that change was not happening.

Something about the left and right hand comes to mind. 

And it will now take 3+ teams to fix up the documentation change that shouldn't have happened.  Pretty embarrassing. 

[GilbertQ]

Yeah, there are so many changes at the moment I think that they struggle to keep up!