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Power Bi Desktop auto refresh using Excel on OneDrive

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Gianluca Casagrande's profile image

Gianluca Casagrande on 30 Aug 2015 17:17:52

If the Power Bi Desktop uses as a source an Excel file, booth on OneDrive it should not be necessary to use Personal Gateway

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Gustav on 05 Jul 2020 23:27:21

RE: Power Bi Desktop auto refresh using Excel on OneDrive

I have to agree, just starting to look more at Power BI and I'm surprised by this difference between the Web-client and the Desktop-client! Why are they not aligned in this? I really would like to build reports on Excel in OneDrive/SharePoint through the more powerful desktop-client.

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Casey on 05 Jul 2020 22:40:24

RE: Power Bi Desktop auto refresh using Excel on OneDrive

I echo this request. It would be great to have a direct OneDrive for Business data source connection in Power BI Desktop. As I understand it, using the File data connector to point for a local file stored in OneDrive doesn't offer the sync/refresh benefits advertised for source files in OneDrive. The only way to do it in Desktop seems to be a roundabout way of getting the URL for a OneDrive for Business file from the web app, modifying it, and then using that with the Web data connector in Power BI Desktop.

OneDrive for Business is an available data source in the Power BI Service online, and it would be awesome (and useful) to have it in Power BI Desktop as well so that we wouldn't necessarily need to use a data gateway.