{"id":2053,"date":"2025-03-24T10:58:57","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T23:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dynamicwebtraining.com.au\/blog\/?p=2053"},"modified":"2025-04-02T15:42:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T04:42:11","slug":"how-to-connect-power-bi-to-excel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dynamicwebtraining.com.au\/blog\/how-to-connect-power-bi-to-excel","title":{"rendered":"How to Connect Power BI to Excel (On-Site\/On-Premises and Cloud Services)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Microsoft Power BI<\/strong> is a tool for data analytics. The most evident advantage of using Power BI is its ability to access data from multiple sources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Microsoft Excel<\/strong> is the most widely used data source in Power BI. Users may retain their data on-site\/on-premises<\/strong> or in the cloud services (OneDrive, SharePoint, or Google Drive<\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

This blog article provides a thorough walk-through on connecting Power BI to Excel files<\/strong> saved on various mediums. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this blog we will also give a step-by-step guide to enable automatic refresh settings<\/strong> and real-time updates<\/strong> for successful reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. How to connect Power BI to an Excel File kept locally\/shared drives (On-site\/On-Premises)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To connect Power BI to Excel, you can import or link directly to an Excel file maintained locally on your PC or on a shared network drive. However, automatic refresh for real-time updates calls for Power BI Gateway<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1: Importing an On-Premises Excel File into Power BI<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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  1. Open Power BI Desktop<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Click Home > Get Data > Excel<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Browse to the Excel file (.xlsx or .xls)<\/strong> stored on your local drive.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Click Open<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. In the Navigator window<\/strong>, select the table or sheet<\/strong> you want to import.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Click Load<\/strong> to bring the data into Power BI.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \"Step<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Tip<\/strong>: If your Excel data isn\u2019t in table format, convert it into a table in Excel by selecting the data and pressing Ctrl+T<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


    Step 2: Setting Up Automatic Refresh for On-Premises Excel<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Since Power BI does not automatically refresh<\/strong> local files, you have two options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Option A: Manual Refresh (Simple but Requires User Action)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n