Power BI Desktop and OneDrive Connection

A step-by-step guide to establishing a connection between Power BI Desktop and OneDrive. A video tutorial of establishing a connection is also available.  

Work seamlessly in PowerBI Desktop with the ability to use files in OneDrive as a datasource. This allows multiple users access to update the data and view it in a simple report format. 

1. Save file to OneDrive.
2. Sign into your OneDrive account in a browser.
3. Find the file.
4. There are two ways to do the next step.
   1. Click on the … for more actions. Select ‘Details’.
   2. Scroll down to path and copy the direct path using the icon.
                                      OR
   3. From OneDrive, select ‘Open in Desktop’.
   4. Once open in Excel Desktop, go to File – Info – Copy path. Click copy path.
5. Open PowerBI Desktop. Under ‘select a data source’, choose ‘get data from other sources’.
6. Search for Web. Select Web. Click Connect. 

7. In Basic URL, paste the link you copied from OneDrive. 

    

   Helpful Note: The end of the link may end with ?web=1. Delete ?web=1. It should end with xlxs. 

    

   If you are prompted to sign in as it’s the first time you’re establishing a connection, select ‘Organzation Account’ from the gray tool bar. Sign in with your name.#.

    

   You’ll be prompted to select different path levels. Select the one that ends with xlsx. 

8. Select the sheet(s).
9. Click Load to Load the data or Transform Data to write calculations.
10. Build the viz. Publish to the PowerBI Service.
11. Once it finished publishing, click the link to open the file in the PowerBI Service.
12. Go to the project and select the semantic model.
13. If you click Refresh Now, you’ll receive an error. The credentials need to be embedded.
14. Under ‘File’ in the Semantic Model, select ‘Settings’. Scroll down to ‘Data Source Credentials’ and select ‘Edit Credentials’.
15. Authentication method is OAuth2.
16. Privacy level is organizational.
17. Go back to the semantic model and click ‘refresh’. The error has disappeared.
18. Test by updating your spreadsheet in OneDrive.
19. Refresh the data source at the semantic model; refresh the visuals.