Power BI is a powerful data visualization tool that enables users to connect to diverse data sources, transform raw data, and create insightful reports and dashboards. Keeping these reports updated with fresh data is critical to maintaining accurate insights your organization can trust.
In this guide, we’ll explore the various ways to refresh Power BI reports, including steps for refreshing reports in Power BI Desktop and the Power BI Service.
We’ll also dive into key concepts like scheduling refreshes, setting dataset credentials, and clarifying how the “Refresh” button in the Power BI Service actually works (spoiler: it might not do what you think).
Refreshing Power BI Reports in Power BI Desktop
You typically create your reports and dashboards in Power BI Desktop. While building reports, you often need to refresh the data to ensure the visuals reflect the latest information.
How to Refresh in Power BI Desktop:
Manual Refresh:
Click the Refresh button in the Home ribbon to pull the latest data from all connected sources. This refresh type is useful when you want to see how changes to your data affect your report in real-time.
Alternatively, right-click a table in the Fields pane and select Refresh data if you only need to refresh specific tables.
Considerations:
Power BI Desktop cannot perform automatic scheduled refreshes because it is a desktop application. The report must be uploaded to Power BI Service or Power BI Report Server to automate refreshes.
Refreshing Power BI Reports in Power BI Service (Online)
Before setting your reports up for automatic data refreshes and taking advantage of the platform’s scheduling capabilities, you need to publish them to the Power BI service. Let’s look at the process for an Online installation (see the next section for an On-premise installation).
How to Publish Reports to Power BI Service:
Publish from Power BI Desktop:
- Open your report in Power BI Desktop.
- Click the Publish button in the Home ribbon, choose the destination workspace, and upload the report to Power BI Service.
- Note: if the report already exists in the workspace you will be prompted to Replace it
Refreshing in Power BI Service:
- Scheduled Refresh:
- After publishing the report, go to the Power BI Service.
- Navigate to the dataset associated with your report. On the appropriate Workspace and report name, look for the “Semantic model” for your report.
- Click the ellipsis (…) next to the dataset and choose Settings.
- Note: You will see two entries for the file you uploaded. One is the “dataset,” and one is the “report.” Be sure to choose the dataset (Semantic model).
- Under Refresh, use the slide button to turn on a scheduled refresh. But you must do more than turn that slide on. You also need to configure the refresh frequency. Click the “Add another time” link to choose between daily, weekly, or more custom schedules depending on your data requirements.
- Most installations can schedule up to 8 refreshes per day, unless your service is on a Premium capacity where that limit jumps to 48.
- Note: You must be the dataset’s owner to create or modify a schedule. Scroll to the top to see who the owner is.
- Credentials:
Make sure the credentials are correctly set up for all your data sources. This is crucial as Power BI Service uses these credentials to access the data source and refresh the dataset. If credentials are not configured or are invalid, the refresh will fail.
For cloud-based data sources (e.g., Azure SQL), OAuth credentials might be used. For on-premises data sources (e.g., SQL Server), you may need to configure a data gateway to connect Power BI Service and your local data source.
Uploading and Refreshing Reports on Power BI Report Server
Some Power BI installations use a Power BI Report Server, an on-premises version for hosting Power BI reports. To load and update reports in a Power BI Report Server, you will need to upload them and set up scheduled refreshes. The process is similar to the Online version, with minor adjustments in the steps.
How to Upload a Report to Power BI Report Server:
- Save as PBIX: From the Power BI Desktop, save the file locally as a .pbix file.
- Upload to Report Server:
- Go to the Power BI Report Server URL (e.g., http://your-server/reports) and navigate to the folder where you want to store the report. On-premise report servers use a directory structure for storing files. You can store the file at the root level or create subfolders to group similar reports together.
- Once in the intended folder, click Upload, choose your .pbix file, and upload it.
How to Set Up Data Refresh on Power BI Report Server:
Schedule Refresh:
- After the report is uploaded, click on the report’s ellipsis (…) and choose Manage.
- In the Manage menu, go to the Data Sources section to configure the connection settings for your data.
- Next, go to the Scheduled Refresh tab to set up how frequently the report should be refreshed (e.g., daily, weekly).
- You will see an option there to “+ New scheduled refresh plan”. Choose this option to get started creating a plan.
- Choose the frequency, start date, and time, then apply the schedule.
Setting Credentials:
Ensure the correct credentials are configured for each data source under the Data Sources section. Without valid credentials, the report cannot refresh properly. If your data source is on-premises (e.g., SQL Server), you may also need to configure Windows credentials.
Consider this:
If, for some reason, you are having trouble with Refreshing Power BI Desktop, you can always open the file in Power BI Desktop, hit the refresh button to let the refresh happen, and then upload it back to the Online or On-premise Server.
Using the “Refresh” Button in Power BI Online:
When viewing a report in the Power BI Service (On-premise), you may notice a Refresh button at the top of the page. It is important to understand that this button does not refresh the underlying data. Instead, it refreshes the visuals on the page to reflect any recent updates to the report dataset or visuals.
For example, if the dataset was refreshed on a schedule earlier, clicking the Refresh button will reload the report to show the most recent data from that dataset. However, it does not initiate new data refresh from the source.
On-Demand (Manual) Refresh in Power BI Service:
If you need to refresh the dataset manually, go to the Datasets section, click the Refresh now button next to the “Semantic model,” and select Refresh Now. This will trigger an immediate data refresh from the source.
Additional Considerations for Refreshing Power BI Reports
Data Gateways:
- If your data sources are on-premises (e.g., SQL Server, SharePoint), you need to set up a Power BI Data Gateway to allow Power BI Service to access these data sources.
- The gateway bridges your on-premises data and the cloud service, securely transmitting data queries and results.
Monitoring Refresh Failures:
- In the Power BI Service, you can monitor the status of your data refreshes under the Refresh History tab in the dataset settings. This log will show you whether a refresh was successful or failed, and it will provide details about any errors.
- You can also set up alerts to notify you if a scheduled refresh fails.
Incremental Refresh:
- For large datasets, you can use Incremental Refresh to refresh only the new or changed data rather than the entire dataset. This can significantly reduce refresh times and improve performance.
- Incremental Refresh is configured in Power BI Desktop under the data loading options for tables that support it.
So, let’s get started!
Refreshing Power BI reports is essential for keeping your insights current and accurate. In Power BI Desktop, you can manually refresh data, but scheduled refreshes are possible only after uploading the report to Power BI Service or Report Server.
By setting up refresh schedules, ensuring proper credentials, and understanding how the Refresh button works in Power BI Online, you can ensure that your reports are always up to date with the latest data.
If you need assistance, Advisicon’s in-house Power BI experts are here to help. Whether you’re setting up your first report, configuring data gateways, or troubleshooting complex refresh issues, our team can provide the expertise and guidance you need to maximize the potential of your Power BI environment.
Keep these tips handy and reach out to Advisicon when you’re ready to take your data insights to the next level.
