Forum Discussion
onedrive refreshWITHOUT gateway
CahabaData, would that it were that simple. You'll need to use Desktop (or excel) to create a Data model. This may contain data from Cloud-based and on-premise files. That then is published to Power BI service. If you've only used Cloud based data, refresh is (relatively) easy and won't need a gateway. If you've used any on-premise data you'll need a gateway to refresh that data.
However if you connect to data through Get Data in power BI service, and choose a Service, that will connect to the cloud-based service and set up the data model for you along with the refresh. So you don't need desktop here.
I guess that if you only ever want to access cloud based data as provided in Services, you can do without Power BI desktop, but if you want to access on-premise data, you'll need to use Desktop.
Stuart
One more related question: Do you feel BI Service can model the Cloud Based Data as robustly as Desktop? Maybe that question is too open ended and relative - let's try it again:
Right now I don't think of the need to use Desktop as being due to the type data source but rather due to a need for more elaborate data modeling (Query Editory) regardless of the data source. Or to say this another way - that Service doesn't offer as comprehensive modeling. Is that much true?
So IF it a Cloud Based Data source and IF one must use Desktop to get the modeling right in order to produce the Visualizations - then it still is a little unclear to me once you move the PBI Report up to Service - - how does that refresh get automated.....
Like you i believe Desktop is needed only to do advanced modeling and to save time by accessing "local" files stored on Onedrive or elsewhere.
As to the refresh, it is true that it works well in all cases once a gateway is installed, but i would like to avaoid it since i am only using Excel files and i am still struggling to make it work.
jmdh
