Skip to main content
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Learn from the best! Meet the four finalists headed to the FINALS of the Power BI Dataviz World Championships! Register now

Reply
jiinson
Helper I
Helper I

data refresh

Dear Power BI Users,


I am pretty new to power bi. 

I have published report from Power BI Desktop to Power BI Service and now I want to refresh the data 8 am everyday. My data is from SQL and Excel. How do I schedule refresh? I have read the article and it seems like I do have to purchase power bi pro. Is there anyway I can refresh the data automatically not by buying pro version?

Thanks in advance!

 

Best Regards,

Jiin Son

5 REPLIES 5
v-ljerr-msft
Microsoft Employee
Microsoft Employee

Hi @jiinson,

 

I'm not aware of a good solution here in your scenario. You may need to put you data on Cloud instead of SQL and Excel as suggested by @Anonymous, or republish it from Power BI Desktop to Power BI Service everyday, or buy a pro license.Smiley Happy

 

Regards

Anonymous
Not applicable

@jiinson In order to schedule a refresh from the on-premises data sources you need to install and use the gateway. This would require a Pro license. If you want to schedule a refresh of 1x per day the data would need to live in the cloud.

hey @Anonymous are you saying: If you want to schedule a refresh of 1x per day the data would need to live in the cloud...IF one doesn't have a Pro license??   

 

somehow I missed that all this time.....

www.CahabaData.com

Hey @CahabaData,

 

This is what I have figured out making dashboards for free and pro users.

 

Without a Pro License:

 

SQL Query --> Excel --> Power BI Desktop --> PBI Service - refresh in Desktop and republish to service to get the new data.

SQL Query  --> Excel (stored in OneDrive) --> PBI Service - data changes will update hourly if OneDrive Refresh is enabled.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Alana

 

 

Anonymous
Not applicable

@CahabaData Using the Gateway requires a Pro License. I read another thread where currently if you don't actually schedule a refresh you can manually refresh your data on the Free license and still use a gateway, but I don't know if that will stick around. But essentially, yes, you can't schedule a refresh using a gateway with a free license.

Helpful resources

Announcements
Join our Fabric User Panel

Join our Fabric User Panel

Share feedback directly with Fabric product managers, participate in targeted research studies and influence the Fabric roadmap.

February Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - February 2026

Check out the February 2026 Power BI update to learn about new features.