“How to Refresh Google Sheets Data in Power BI Service: Options and Workarounds for Free Users”

Using Google Sheets as a data source in the Power BI Service, particularly with a free Power BI account, has some limitations, especially around scheduled refreshes. The free Power BI Service does not support scheduled refreshes for online data sources like Google Sheets; scheduled refresh is only available for Pro or Premium users. Here’s a breakdown of options and potential workarounds:

1. Manually Refresh in Power BI Desktop

• With a free Power BI account, your only option is to refresh the data manually in Power BI Desktop and then republish the report to the Power BI Service.
• Steps:
  1. Open your report in Power BI Desktop.
  2. Click Refresh to update the data from Google Sheets.
  3. After the refresh is complete, republish the report to the Power BI Service.

2. Upgrade to Power BI Pro or Premium

• A Pro or Premium subscription enables scheduled refreshes in the Power BI Service, which includes support for Google Sheets as a data source.
• With a Pro license, you can schedule up to eight refreshes per day, and Premium users can schedule up to 48 refreshes per day.

3. Use Power Automate as a Workaround

• If you prefer to avoid upgrading, you can try setting up an automated refresh with Power Automate (available with a free license) to fetch data from Google Sheets and push it into Power BI.
• This process requires setting up a flow to:
  1. Pull data from Google Sheets.
  2. Push that data to a dataset in Power BI using the Power BI API.
• This is more complex and requires familiarity with Power Automate and API usage, but it’s an option if you want an automated solution without upgrading.

4. Consider Exporting to OneDrive or Excel

• Another workaround is to export the Google Sheets data to an Excel file on OneDrive, then connect Power BI to that file. Power BI has better support for scheduled refreshes on OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online files, which might work for your needs with a free account.
• You’ll still need to re-save or re-export the data to OneDrive manually, but it could simplify the refresh process in Power BI.

Summary

Without a Pro license, refreshing Google Sheets data in Power BI Service will be limited to manual refreshes in Power BI Desktop. Consider one of the workarounds or upgrading if automation is essential. Let me know if you want more guidance on any of these approaches!