What Can Power BI Connect To?

Power BI is known for its powerful visualizations, but its real secret weapon is its ability to connect to almost any data source you can think of. This article will walk you through the vast landscape of data connectors available in Power BI, from simple spreadsheets on your desktop to sophisticated cloud databases.

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Understanding Power BI Connectors

Think of a connector as a bridge. It's the specific piece of technology within Power BI that knows how to talk to your data source, retrieve the data, and bring it into your report. Power BI offers several ways to establish this connection, each suited for different scenarios.

Import vs. DirectQuery vs. Live Connection

Before you connect, it’s helpful to understand the main data import methods, as this choice affects your report's performance and data freshness.

• Import: This is the most common and highest-performing method. Power BI copies the data from your source and stores it within the Power BI file (.pbix). Dashboards built this way are very fast, but the data is only as fresh as your last scheduled refresh.
• DirectQuery: Instead of importing the data, Power BI leaves the data at the source. Whenever you interact with a report, Power BI sends a query back to the original database to get the latest information. This is great for an always-current dashboard or extremely large datasets, but performance depends on the speed of the underlying data source.
• Live Connection: This method is specific to certain "model-based" sources like SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS), Azure Analysis Services (AAS), or Power BI Datasets. It's similar to DirectQuery in that data stays at the source, but it connects to an entire existing data model, including its relationships and measures.

Your choice depends on your need for real-time data versus report interactivity and speed. For most users, starting with the Import method is the best path.

Connecting to Local Files and Databases

For many teams, the data journey begins with simple files and local databases. Power BI provides robust and straightforward connectors for these common sources.

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Common File Types

You can find these options under the "Get Data" button in Power BI Desktop.

• Excel (.xlsx, .xlsm): This is arguably the most-used connector. You can pull data from specific sheets, named ranges, or Excel Tables. For best results, always format your data as a table in Excel before connecting.
• Text/CSV (.csv): Connect directly to comma-separated value files. Power BI’s Power Query Editor gives you fantastic tools to split columns, change data types, and clean up messy CSV data upon import.
• XML and JSON (.xml, .json): Connect to files containing data in these common structured formats. Power BI intelligently parses the hierarchies within these files to create usable tables.
• Folder: This is a hidden gem. Instead of connecting to a single file, you can point Power BI to a folder. It will then combine all the compatible files within that folder into a single table. This is incredibly useful for combining monthly sales reports or daily log files without any manual copy-pasting.
• SharePoint Folder: This works just like the Folder connector but is designed for files stored in a SharePoint document library, making it perfect for collaborative, cloud-based file management.

On-Premises Databases

If your business stores data in traditional databases located on your own servers, Power BI has you covered. Popular connectors include:

• SQL Server
• Oracle Database
• MySQL
• PostgreSQL
• IBM DB2
• Sybase
• Teradata

A Note on the On-Premises Data Gateway

How does the cloud-based Power BI Service access a database sitting on a server inside your office? The answer is the On-premises Data Gateway. You install this small piece of software on a computer within your local network. It acts as a secure tunnel, allowing the Power BI Service to send refresh requests to your local database without exposing that database directly to the internet. If you plan to automatically refresh a report connected to an on-premises source, setting up a gateway is a mandatory step.

Connecting to Cloud Services and Platforms

Modern businesses operate in the cloud, and Power BI thrives in this environment. Its list of connectors to cloud databases and popular SaaS applications is extensive and constantly growing.

Microsoft Azure Services

Given that Power BI is a Microsoft product, its integration with the Azure cloud platform is seamless and powerful.

• Azure SQL Database: The cloud version of the traditional SQL Server. Connecting is as simple as providing your server details and account credentials.
• Azure Synapse Analytics (formerly SQL Data Warehouse): Microsoft's petabyte-scale analytics service, designed for enterprise-level data warehousing and big data analytics.
• Azure Analysis Services (AAS): If your organization has an enterprise data model built in AAS, Power BI can create a live connection to it, leveraging all the pre-built logic and relationships.
• Azure Blob Storage / Data Lake Storage: Ideal for storing massive amounts of structured and unstructured data (like JSON files and log data) in the cloud. You can connect a folder of files here just like you would on a local machine.

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Popular SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) Applications

Many connectors for SaaS tools go beyond just pulling data, they often come with pre-built reports and dashboards to get you started immediately.

• Salesforce: Connect directly to both Salesforce Objects (e.g., Accounts, Opportunities) and Salesforce reports. This is critical for getting a clear view of your sales pipeline.
• Google Analytics: A must-have for any marketing department. Pull in website traffic data like sessions, pageviews, users, goal completions, and more.
• HubSpot: Connect directly to your marketing & sales hub to analyze customer relationships, deal stages, and marketing-driven leads.
• Shopify: Pull in data about your products, customers, and orders to get a full view of your online store's performance.
• QuickBooks Online: Excellent for analyzing financial data by connecting to your chart of accounts, profit & loss statements, balance sheets, and more.

Other Cloud Platforms

Power BI is vendor-agnostic and connects easily to competitors' cloud platforms:

• Amazon Redshift
• Google BigQuery
• Snowflake

Extending Connectivity Even Further

What if you don't see a dedicated connector for your data source? Power BI still has several flexible options that can likely get the job done.

Web Connector

The "Web" connector (under "Get Data") is deceptively powerful. If data is displayed in a straightforward HTML table on a webpage, you can often just paste the URL, and Power BI will automatically detect and extract the table for you. For more advanced needs, it can also be used to make direct calls to web APIs that return data in formats like JSON.

OData Feeds

The Open Data Protocol (OData) is a standardized web protocol for requesting and updating data. If your data source exposes an OData feed (as many enterprise applications like SAP and Microsoft Dynamics do), you can easily connect to it and pull relevant data sets securely.

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Writing Your Own Query (Blank Query)

For ultimate flexibility, you can start with a "Blank Query" in the Power Query Editor. This drops you into an environment where you can use the M formula language to define your own custom data connection logic. This method is typically used for connecting to web APIs that require more complex authentication or custom-defined functions to page through results.

Final Thoughts

Power BI’s massive library of data connectors is its foundational strength, empowering you to bring together disparate data sources into a unified, interactive dashboard. By consolidating everything from a simple marketing spreadsheet and a Salesforce account to a production SQL database, you can finally see the full picture of your organization's performance.

While Power BI is incredibly powerful, setting up and managing connections across dozens of platforms can still become a full-time job. With Graphed, we streamline this process specifically for marketing and sales data. We use one-click integrations with dozens of tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot, Salesforce, and Shopify to bring all your data into one place automatically. From there, you just use simple, natural language to create the dashboards and reports. There are no connectors to configure and no data models to build - just fast answers so you can go back to growing your business.