How to Update Data in Power BI Dashboard

A Power BI dashboard is only as useful as the data behind it. If that data is a week old, you're making decisions based on history, not the present. This guide will walk you through the different ways to update the data in your Power BI dashboards, from simple manual clicks to automated, scheduled refreshes that keep your insights consistently current.

Why Keeping Your Power BI Data Fresh is Non-Negotiable

In business, timing is everything. Stale data can lead to missed opportunities, incorrect assumptions, and poor strategic decisions. A dashboard showing last month's sales figures is a historical report, but a dashboard showing yesterday's performance is an active tool for growth. Routinely refreshing your data ensures that you and your team are always operating with the most accurate and timely information available, turning your dashboards from static pictures into a live pulse of your business.

Understanding the Two Worlds of Power BI: Desktop vs. Service

Before diving into the "how," it's important to understand the two main environments in the Power BI ecosystem, as refreshing works differently in each.

• Power BI Desktop: This is the free application you install on your computer. It's your workshop - where you connect to data sources, clean up data in Power Query, build your data model, and design reports and visuals. Refreshing here is always a manual process.
• Power BI Service: This is the cloud-based platform (app.powerbi.com) where you publish, share, and collaborate on your reports. It's where you build dashboards and, most importantly, where you can automate data refreshes so you don't have to do it manually.

The general workflow is to build in Desktop and then publish to the Service to set up automation. Let's look at the refresh methods for both.

Method 1: The Quick Manual Refresh in Power BI Desktop

When you're actively building a report, you'll constantly need to pull in the latest data to see how your changes look. The manual refresh is your go-to tool for this.

It's incredibly straightforward:

1. Open your report file (.pbix) in Power BI Desktop.
2. In the Home tab of the top ribbon, you'll see a large Refresh button.
3. Click it.

That's it. Power BI will now connect to every single data source you've set up for that report - whether it's an Excel file, a SQL database, or a web API - and pull in the most recent data. You'll see a small window showing the progress as it processes each table. This method is perfect for development and ad-hoc analysis but isn't practical for keeping published reports updated for your team.

Method 2: Automating Your Data with Scheduled Refreshes

This is where the real power lies. A scheduled refresh automatically updates your dataset in the Power BI Service on a cadence you define - no manual intervention required. This ensures that anyone viewing your published report is always looking at fresh data.

Setting this up involves a few important steps after you've published your report from Desktop to the Service.

Step 1: Locate Your Dataset in Power BI Service

First, log in to Power BI Service. Navigate to the Workspace where you published your report. You'll see that Power BI separated your single .pbix file into two components: the Report and the Dataset (sometimes called a Semantic Model). All refresh settings are managed at the dataset level.

Find your dataset, hover over it, click the three-dot menu (...) , and select Settings.

Step 2: Provide Your Data Source Credentials

Power BI Service needs permission to access your data sources on its own. For cloud-based sources like SharePoint, Google Sheets, or an Azure SQL database, you’ll need to provide your login credentials.

Under Data source credentials, you'll see a list of the sources used in your report. Click Edit credentials for each one and securely sign in. This is a one-time step that allows the Power BI cloud to authenticate on your behalf.

Step 3: Configure a Gateway for On-Premises Data (If Needed)

What if your data isn't in the cloud? What if it's an Excel file on your company's shared drive or a SQL Server inside your office network? This is where a data gateway comes in.

A gateway is a secure bridge application that you install on a computer within your local network. It allows the Power BI Service to safely "reach through" and grab your on-premises data.

• When you need it: You are connecting to data that lives on a local computer or an internal company server.
• When you DON'T need it: All your data sources are cloud-based (e.g., Salesforce, Google Analytics, SharePoint Online).

If you need one, you'll see a notification under the Gateway connection section in the settings. You will need to install and configure the gateway on a computer that is always on and connected to the internet. After it's set up and running, you can select it from the dropdown in your dataset settings to bridge the connection.

Step 4: Set Your Refresh Schedule

Once your credentials and gateway are sorted, you can set the schedule. Scroll down to the Scheduled refresh section and toggle it on.

• Refresh frequency: Choose between Daily or Weekly.
• Time zone: Select your local time zone so the refreshes happen when you expect them to.
• Time: Click Add another time to set a specific time of day for the refresh to run. The number of refreshes you can schedule depends on your license. A Power BI Pro license allows up to 8 daily refreshes, while a Premium license allows up to 48.
• Notifications: It's a great idea to check the box for Send refresh failure notifications to me. This will send you an email if something goes wrong, allowing you to fix it quickly.

Once you click Apply, you're all set! Power BI will now automatically update your data at the times you specified.

Troubleshooting Common Power BI Refresh Failures

Sometimes refreshes fail. It happens. Here are some of the most common culprits and how to investigate them.

1. Expired Credentials

The problem: The email says a refresh failed due to invalid credentials. This often happens if you recently changed a password for a data source or if an access token (for a web service, a SaaS like Salesforce) has expired.

The fix: Go back to your Dataset settings > Data source credentials and re-enter your new credentials.

2. Gateway is Offline

The problem: You get a message saying the on-premises data gateway is unreachable.

The fix: The computer where you installed the gateway might be turned off, asleep, or disconnected from the internet. Make sure that machine is running and connected.

3. Changes in the Data Source

The problem: A refresh fails because of an error with a specific table. This is very common. Maybe someone renamed a column in the source Excel file, deleted a file, or moved it to a different folder.

The fix: Open the .pbix file in Power BI Desktop and try to refresh it there. Desktop will give you a much more specific error message, often pointing you to the exact step in Power Query that failed. You can then correct the query to account for the changes in the source data.

4. Refresh Timeout

The problem: Your dataset takes too long to refresh and times out (the default is two hours).

The fix: This usually means your dataset is massive or the queries are inefficient. Look for ways to optimize your data model in Power BI Desktop - remove unused columns, filter data in Power Query before it's loaded, and simplify complex calculations.

Final Thoughts

Keeping your reports fresh in Power BI boils down to a simple workflow: build locally in Desktop using manual refreshes, then publish to the Service to configure automated, scheduled refreshes. Setting up credentials and a data gateway for the first time can feel a bit tricky, but once configured, your dashboards will practically manage themselves, providing your team with the reliable, up-to-date insights needed to make smart decisions.

If connecting to multiple marketing and sales platforms and managing refresh schedules sounds like more trouble than it's worth, tools like Graphed can help. We built Graphed to eliminate the friction of data analysis. Instead of setting up data gateways and scheduling refreshes, you simply connect your platforms like Google Analytics, Shopify, and Salesforce with one click. From there, you can ask questions in plain English to build real-time, always-up-to-date dashboards in seconds, without ever worrying about a single refresh failure.