Use an Excel file from a Workspace as a data source

[mmcanelly]

We are trying to integrate some manually-maintained data with our other data sources, and I'm trying to figure out the most streamlined way to do this. What I thought might work is to upload an Excel file to a Power BI workspace and then allow the user who maintains that data to edit it in Excel online. I could then use this Excel file as a data source in the Power BI app I'm creating. However, I don't see an option to use an online Excel file as a data source in this way.

Is there a way to use an Excel file that lives in a Power BI workspace similar to how I would use a Power BI dataset? Is there a better way to keep a spreadsheet of manually-maintained data that can be easily imported into Power BI on a schedule? We don't currently have Sharepoint, so that's not an option for us.

[cassidy · Accepted solution]

Sharepoint is the easiest way, but since you don't have it I guess I'd create a Dataflow that sources the Excel file via Gateway > Local Excel file.  

The user could edit the Excel file and save as normal (locally), then schedule the Dataflow to pick up the latest version.  Not sure if you already use a Gateway, but you'd need to add the file path to the Gateway.