Forum Discussion
onedrive refreshWITHOUT gateway
I have spent several days trying to understand how a report (using data in a Table format in Excel 2016 stored on OneDrive pro) created with PowerBI Desktop (stored on OneDrive Pro) and published on the PowerBI service is refreshed in the service.
I want to understand if any refresh works without using the Gateway as i understood it should.
1 when i modofy and change the Pbix
2 when i change the data in the Excel file
If so what are the restrictions if any.
Many thanks before i get mad.
PS by the way the Gateway works fine but if you uninstall it you get into serious problems
14 Replies
jmdhThis page walks through the overall refresh areas and whether or not a gateway is required. The gateway is the link between data sources on premises to the cloud. If the source is already in the cloud, like your scenario you may not need the gateway. There are certain cases in which you would need the gateway when using an "online" source - for instance they just changed that requirement with connecting to web url's. It's challenge to understand every single scenario, but you can set it up in such a way that it will automatically refresh without the gateway.
Thank you. Yes i read it at least ten times (and the aother realted pages) and i have never been able to make refresh work (without a gateway) .
I am unclear wether my Excel files have to be in Table form so i also tried that because it automatically uses the data model i think, but it just doe not work. And so far, all my data is in EXcel, so i really don't want to go the Gateway way if not absolutely necessary.
By the way i think the sheer lenght of the documentation of Refresh etc hints at an unusual complexity for such a product:
I am working on a summary table for beginners
I think refresh is complex because data storage is complex. Power BI does a good job of pulling data from a wide range of locations, so it's not suprising to me that refreshing that data from all those (mixed) locations can be a bit tricky.
I have a simple rule of thumb for refeshing. Cloud based data (Like Azure Databases, Salesforce.com. Google Analytics etc.) refresh automatically. OneDrive and SharePoint Online are cloud based data repositories, so if I put my .PBIX or .XLSX files there they will get refreshed hourly. On premise data (Access Databases, in-house hosted SQL databases, in-house hosted Salesforce.com, or even just the files on my laptop) need a Gateway to refresh, and if it needs a Gateway, you need a Pro Licence. If I mix any of these, (Like Google Analytics and a CSV file on my C: drive) in a data model, I'll need a Gateway for Power BI to gain access to my CSV file.
Hope this helps.
Stuart
jmdh Anonymous
Just read through your thread as I had exactly the same question.
However, I was asking myself:
If I connect to data sources on OneDrive and I need to use PBI Desktop to do advanced data modeling,
I need to save the pbix file on OneDrive as well to be able to refresh in PBI service without a gateway, right?
Otherwise if I connect to the data source on OneDrive, have my pbix file on my desktop and I make changes in the pbix file, the changes won't be reflected in the service if I don't have a gateway installed...?
Hi,
Basically (and i spent a lot of hours on this) there are two ways to manage Refresh when the source is Excel files.
1) Publish From the Desktop :
you need to access your Excel files (stored on OneDrive / sharePoint) in WEB mode ,
then Publish to PowerBI.Com,
then make sure in the Dataset which is automatically created to check the boxes on refresh etcHowever each time you change your PBix, you need to Re Publish
2) Publish from POwerBI.Com
Access your PBIx file from PowerBI.Com
Your Pbix will be automatically refreshed at regular intervals (1hour i think)
I have not done it for a while but i think you also need to check the bowes to also Refresh your dataset
This is a summary, there is more to it. If you need more, let me know.
Jmdh
