Power BI – File Data Sources

File data sources in Power BI Desktop

Power BI supports a wide range of data sources that you can use to import data into your reports and dashboards. These data sources can be broadly categorized into four types:

File-based data sources include multiple data sources. These files are stored locally or in a cloud storage service such as OneDrive, SharePoint, or Dropbox. File-based data sources are useful when you want to import data from a single file, or when you want to combine data from multiple files. You can use Power BI’s query editor to transform and clean up the data before loading it into your report.

The File category provides the following data connections:

• Excel Workbook
• Text/CSV
• XML
• JSON
• Folder
• PDF
• Parquet
• SharePoint folder

Excel Workbook: Excel Workbook is one of the most popular file-based data sources in Power BI. Power BI supports Excel workbooks that are stored locally or in cloud-based storage such as OneDrive and SharePoint. You can import data from one or more worksheets in an Excel workbook, and then use the query editor to transform and clean up the data.

Text/CSV: Text and CSV files are another commonly used file-based data source in Power BI. You can import data from a single text/CSV file or multiple files in a folder. The query editor allows you to specify delimiter, encoding, and other options to customize the import process.

XML: Power BI also supports XML files as a data source. You can import data from a single XML file or multiple files in a folder. You can also use the query editor to transform and filter the data.

JSON: JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) files are a popular data format used in web applications. Power BI can import data from JSON files stored locally or in cloud-based storage. You can use the query editor to transform and flatten the data before loading it into your report.

Folder: The folder data source in Power BI allows you to import data from multiple files in a folder. You can specify file extensions, filters, and other options to control which files are imported. The folder data source is useful when you have multiple files with similar data structures.

PDF: Power BI can also extract data from PDF files. You can import data from a single PDF file or multiple files in a folder. Power BI uses optical character recognition (OCR) to extract data from PDF files, which means that the accuracy of the data extraction depends on the quality of the PDF file.

SharePoint folder: Power BI also supports SharePoint folders as a data source. You can import data from one or more files in a SharePoint folder. SharePoint folders are often used to store data that is shared across an organization.

Parquet: Parquet is an open-source columnar storage format used in big data applications. Power BI supports Parquet files as a data source. You can import data from Parquet files stored in Hadoop or other big data systems.

In summary, Power BI provides a wide range of file-based data sources that you can use to import data into your reports and dashboards. The query editor in Power BI allows you to transform and clean up the data before loading it into your report. This flexibility allows you to work with a variety of data sources and create powerful insights from your data.

The following image shows the Get Data window for File.